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to megawatts
How San Francisco managed to transform
from a solar no-go-zone to a PV
hotspot – at least for the time being
San Francisco resident Barry
Wong is positively giddy
about the PV system on his
house in the city’s Sunset
District. After installing the
3.2 kW system last year, his monthly
utility bill plummeted from $150 to
$20. He, his wife and three children
enjoy watching their house’s electric
meter run backwards, thanks to the system’s
solar electric output that offsets
his family’s energy consumption.
Several years ago, Wong had considered
solar for his home, but never took
the plunge because »it was a little costprohibitive.«
That changed in 2008
when the City of San Francisco launched
GoSolarSF, an upfront cash rebate pro-
November 2009
gram for homeowners, businesses, and
non-profi ts that purchase PV systems.
When combined with the California
Solar Initiative, a rebate program administered
by the State of California,
and federal tax credits, the GoSolarSF
incentive payment reduced Wong’s
system price from $30,702 to $13,991
– a savings of 54 percent. »GoSolarSF
pushed me over the edge,« said Wong.
»The program brought it back into our
price range. We jumped right on it.«
»
Barry Wong was not the only San
Franciscan that jumped on the Go-
SolarSF bandwagon. When the incentive
program opened its doors in July
2008, the rebate – which ranged from
$3,000 to $8,000 for residential applicants,
and up to $10,000 for businesses
– sparked a solar boom in the
city. San Francisco applications to the
California Solar Initiative jumped from
26 in June that year to 62 in July, and
climbed to a peak of 117 in January 2009
»It was so bad that all the installers we had around the
table had written off San Francisco,« said Ting
35
Frederic Neema / photon-pictures.com