California

Solar Legislative Score: ****
Governor Arnold has our back here in California. He has made leaps and bounds toward increasing the solar production in California, which comprises about 85% of all solar installations in our country. He has worked with the power companies to get them to commit to producing 20% of their power with renewable energy by 2010, and plans for solar power plants are exploding.

The California Solar Initiative - The State Rebate for Solar
The CSI is part of Arnold’s Million Solar Roofs program, which aims to create 3000 MegaWatts of new solar power by 2017 in California. The bulk of this program is run by the California Public Utilities Commission and is for existing homes, new and existing businesses, and public entities. The rest is handled by the California Energy Commission which manages a 10-year, $400 million program to encourage solar in new home construction through its New Solar Homes Parnership.
The rebate started at $2.50 per watt and drops in 30 cent increments as more and more people install Solar Power. Amazingly PG&E is reporting no backlog for CSI applications. There are special rebates available for low-income households.

California Solar Tax Credits
Unfortunately, both solar and wind tax credits and California went away 12/31/05. There were probably not replaced because the “Million Solar Roofs” program, also called the Califonia Solar Initiative, was magnificently large ($3.3 Billion) and enough to get the job done. You still can qualify for the federal solar tax credit.

http://www.solarpowerrocks.com/california/