(a) In 2007, the San Francisco Solar Task Force (the “Solar Task Force”), convened by then Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting to provide analysis and policy proposals on how best to increase the development of solar energy in San Francisco, recommended creating the Solar Energy Incentive Program.
(b) The Solar Task Force report noted recent California Energy Commission data showing that average cost per kilowatt of solar energy installed in San Francisco was above the average cost of seven surrounding Bay Area counties; and data collected from the California Energy Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission showed that San Francisco ranked last in the Bay Area in terms of the solar energy installed per capita.
(c) The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (the “SFPUC”) serves 17% of the City’s electrical demand, electric service providers serve 8% and Pacific Gas & Electric Company serves the remaining 75%. The SFPUC has installed eight megawatts of solar generating capacity as well as three megawatts of methane gas cogeneration capacity, which projects have bolstered the in-City renewable energy portfolio.
(d) The SFPUC continues to evaluate the development of additional large scale renewable energy generation assets within the City with the objectives of expanding and diversifying the renewable energy resources available to City departments and other SFPUC customers, boosting the City’s clean energy industry, and improving overall in-City energy reliability.
(e) The SFPUC has launched CleanPowerSF, a Community Choice Aggregation program, within the City. Implementation of CleanPowerSF allows the SFPUC to partner with private enterprise, leverage the purchasing power of a wider customer base and access the capital markets on a broader scale in order to expand its renewable energy generation asset portfolio.
(f) The Solar Task Force recommended implementation of a Solar Energy Incentive Program as one method to address this cost trend, in that an increase in private demand combined with appropriate measures to attract investment in the City’s solar manufacturing and installation industries over the long term could reduce the overall cost of solar energy as costs of importing such manufacturing technology and installation expertise are reduced or eliminated and economies of scale are introduced to the in-City solar industry.
(g) A successful solar incentive program would increase the installation of solar power, thus providing greater supply during peak demand times during the day and improving the reliability of in-City generation capacity using clean solar energy.
(h) The development of a more efficient and cost-effective in-City solar manufacturing and installation industry over the long term would result in savings for the SFPUC’s solar projects.
(i) The SFPUC has paid over $23 million in solar energy incentives since 2008. These incentive payments supported almost 3,800 installations that produce more than 13 megawatts of solar power, and created 172 new jobs for disadvantaged San Franciscans.
(j) Since 2008, the cost of solar power has declined significantly in San Francisco and the rest of the world.
(k) The Solar Energy Incentive Program is supporting more projects than ever before with less money. The annual budgets in fiscal years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 were not fully subscribed but the kilowatts of solar power installed in San Francisco in those years was more than double the kilowatts of solar power installed in San Francisco in fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013.
(l) California’s Solar Initiative (“CSI”) has been ramping down its incentives and in 2014, the California Public Utilities Commission concluded that CSI has largely achieved its goal of stimulating widespread solar adoption and creating a self-sustaining market.
(m) The 30% federal tax credit for solar power has been extended, and the California Public Utilities Commission has put into place favorable net-energy metering terms for Pacific Gas and Electric Company customers installing solar power. San Francisco offers similar net-energy metering terms for its CleanPowerSF customers.
(n) In 2016, the Office of the Controller audited the Solar Energy Incentive Program and recommended improvements to the qualifications for additional incentives for low-income customers.
(o) Section 908 of the Environment Code requires San Francisco to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by 2017; by 40% below 1990 levels by 2025; and by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.
(p) In view of the City’s objectives in addressing the challenge of climate change, the positive benefits for the City’s overall power consumption market and the particular benefits for the SF-PUC’s Power Enterprise, the SFPUC intends to allocate $7.275 million of power revenues, including $2 million of Solar Energy Incentive Program surplus funds from fiscal year 2014-2015, towards funding the implementation of the solar incentive program described in this Chapter 18, with the objective of providing declining annual appropriations through fiscal year 2023-2024.
(q) To maximize the value of this investment, and in light of the reduced cost of solar power and the maturation of the solar power market in San Francisco, the SFPUC should simplify and reduce the solar incentives over time, while maintaining additional incentives for low income residents, Environmental Justice Districts, and use of installers maintaining their principal place of business in San Francisco.
(r) The City and the SFPUC intend this program to complement the SFPUC’s renewable energy capital programs, including CleanPowerSF, by attracting additional investment that will expand the development of renewable energy within the City and will spread the costs and risks of that development across a more diverse range of stakeholders.
(s) The SFPUC finds it beneficial to its customers and the environment to have financial incentive programs that will continue to be replenished during future budget cycles to support renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.
(t) As a complement to this initiative, the SFPUC, the Mayor, and the Board of Supervisors are pursuing the establishment of a stable rate structure for all of the SFPUC’s power customers, to enable the SFPUC to become a creditworthy bond issuer and to finance the City’s own renewable energy development projects on a more advantageous tax-exempt basis.
(a) The Program Administrator shall make incentive payments to applicants in respect of solar systems installed by qualifying applicants on the basis of the provisions of this Chapter 18, from the funds appropriated to the program from time to time.
(b) Applicants must be the owner of the system to be eligible to receive the incentive.
(c) To be eligible for the incentive, a system must be installed by an individual, firm, or organization that participates in San Francisco’s First Source Hiring program, operated by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development.
(Added by Ord. 102-08, File No. 071679, App. 6/18/2008; Ord. 109-10, File No. 100048, App. 5/27/2010; amended by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
(a) Photovoltaic panel systems. Photo-voltaic panel systems that produce electricity from sunlight, installed on single and multifamily residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, with generating capacity of at least one kilowatt, and replacement parts for such systems, are eligible for assistance under this program.
(b) Other systems. The Program Administrator may extend program eligibility to other types of customer-owned distributed storage and/or renewable energy generation systems, energy efficiency, and electric vehicle infrastructure, so long as such an extension is accompanied by publication of criteria for allocating incentive payments for such purpose and the limits on such incentives. Such an extension must be accompanied by analysis demonstrating that the projected positive market effects of the incentive on the in-City market for the development of energy storage, renewable energy, energy efficiency and electric vehicle infrastructure, are comparable to those attributes of the photovoltaic panel program.
(c) No limit on generating capacity. There shall be no maximum generating capacity limitation on systems that are eligible for the incentive.
(Added by Ord. 102-08, File No. 071679, App. 6/18/2008; Ord. 42-09, File No. 090100, App. 4/2/2009; amended by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
(a) Limits for all types of systems. No applicant may receive assistance in excess of the cost to design, purchase, and install the system, net of incentives, rebates, tax credits, or other payments received from other governmental entities.
(b) Incentives and limits for photovoltaic panel systems for residential property.
(1) Residential applicants may receive incentives of $500 per kilowatt toward the cost to design, purchase and install photovoltaic panels. Commencing on January 1, 2017, every year for the remaining term of the Solar Energy Incentive Program, this incentive shall be reduced by $100 per kilowatt until the incentive is zero, except as further provided in this subsection (b).
(2) Applicants residing in an Environmental Justice District, as such district or districts are determined by the Program Administrator, shall be eligible for an additional $100 per kilowatt toward the cost to design, purchase and install photovoltaic panels.
(3) Applicants that are a building owner and a recipient of the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s CalHome loan program, which provides low-interest, deferred rehabilitation loans to low-income homeowners, shall be eligible for an additional $100 per kilowatt toward the cost to design, purchase and install photovoltaic panels.
(4) Applicants who are households that are certified by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development as earning at or below the San Francisco median income, shall be eligible for an additional $2,000 per kilowatt toward the cost to design, purchase and install photovoltaic panels. No later than December 31, 2018, the Program Administrator shall evaluate this additional incentive and may revise it upon consideration of any changes in the applicable markets, the remaining program funds and how these can best be used to achieve the objectives of the program, and the goal of making solar energy accessible to low income San Francisco residents.
(5) An incentive applicant whose system is installed by an individual, firm, or organization whose principal office or offices are located within the City shall be eligible for an additional incentive of $250 per kilowatt up to a total additional incentive of $1,000.
(6) Notwithstanding subsections (b)(1)–(5), no applicant may receive assistance in excess of $50,000 and no incentive may exceed $50,000 per building. Further, if the property is a multifamily residential building, the total incentive shall be limited to no more than $500 per unit in the building plus $10,000 for the building as a whole, and the system must provide each unit with a generating capacity of at least one kilowatt or financial credits that result from a generating capacity of at least one kilowatt from the energy generation system.
(c) Incentives and limits for photovoltaic panel systems for commercial, industrial, or manufacturing property. Applicants may receive incentives of $500 per kilowatt of electric power a photovoltaic panel system is designed to generate. Regardless of system generating capacity, no applicant may receive assistance in excess of $10,000. Commencing on January 1, 2017, this limit shall be reduced by $100 per kilowatt every year for the remaining term of the Solar Energy Incentive Program until the limit is zero.
(d) Adjustments in incentives and limits.
(1) Upon a finding by the SFPUC that such reduction is in the public interest, the SFPUC shall have the discretion to decrease the incentives and limits set forth above by an amount reflective of the reduced need for the incentive payments.
(2) With the concurrence of the Board of Supervisors and subject to the budgetary and fiscal provisions of the Charter, the Program Administrator may increase any of the incentives and limits set forth in this Section 18.4 in connection with efforts to stimulate the development of a competitive in-City solar market, such as the establishment of an in-City photovoltaic panel production facility.
(Added by Ord. 102-08, File No. 071679, App. 6/18/2008; Ord. 42-09, File No. 090100, App. 4/2/2009; Ord. 10910, File No. 100048, App. 5/27/2010; amended by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
For each year of this program, the Program Administrator shall allocate the available funds to the targeted market sectors, and, within such sectors, available funds shall be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
(Added by Ord. 102-08, File No. 071679, App. 6/18/2008; amended by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
(a) The program will be administered by the Program Administrator, which shall be the SFPUC, acting by and through its Power Enterprise. SFPUC shall coordinate administration of the Solar Energy Incentive Program with the implementation and administration of CleanPowerSF to maximize its efficiency in achieving the renewable energy expansion goals contemplated under CleanPowerSF.
(b) The Program Administrator shall develop rules and application procedures.
(c) The Program Administrator shall establish reasonable eligibility criteria for the incentive payments so that the program is available only to applicants who are receiving electric service from the SFPUC (either directly or through CleanPowerSF) or who have applied and are eligible for such service; applicants must commit to take such service for a least one year after installing the system or commencing SFPUC service, whichever occurs later. Such criteria shall also include (but are not limited to) confirmation that the applicant has installed the system in compliance with all applicable laws, including Department of Building Inspection inspections and approvals.
(d) If there are applications for assistance in excess of appropriated funds within a market sector, the Program Administrator shall grant applications in the order they were filed. The Program Administrator shall develop a reservation system which will allow applicants to request that the Program Administrator reserve funds for a proposed project. Such reservation system may be patterned after that utilized by the California Solar Initiative.
(e) Subject to the budgetary and fiscal provisions of the Charter, the Program Administrator shall maintain annual program funding as identified within the SFPUC Power Enterprise budget as the Solar Energy Incentive Fund. At the end of each fiscal year, any program funds that were not expended shall be carried forward to the next fiscal year. Upon a finding as to the continuing effectiveness of the Solar Energy Incentive program in achieving its objectives such funds shall be appropriated then or thereafter for the purposes specified in this Chapter 18.
(f) The Program Administrator shall determine and implement payment procedures for incentives under the program. Such payment procedures may include the option to make payments on applicants’ behalf directly to installers or other entities. Such payments shall not be considered contracts or grants of the City for purposes of any City procedural contracting ordinances, and no requirements shall be imposed as a condition of receipt of such incentive payments aside from those specifically referenced in this Chapter 18 and as necessary to protect the City from legal liabilities and promote the goals of this ordinance.
(g) The Program Administrator shall monitor the effective costs of renewable energy system installation and other related market information for purposes of making the adjustments described in Section 18.4(d).
(h) The Program Administrator shall establish boundaries for any Environmental Justice District identified for purposes of Section 18.4(b)(2). Any such district shall satisfy the goals, objectives, and definitions of environmental justice and Environmental Justice Districts, as such concepts are set forth at any given time under state and local law.
(i) In the context of funding appropriations for this program in future years, the Board of Supervisors will (1) review and approve the Environmental Justice District boundaries established by the Program Administrator pursuant to subsection 18.6 (h); and (2) review and approve any new or modified criteria or incentives established by the Program Administrator.
(Added by Ord. 106-08, File No. 080630, App. 6/24/2008; repealed by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
(Added by Ord. 106-08, File No. 080630, App. 6/24/2008; amended by Ord. 42-09, File No. 090100, App. 4/2/2009; repealed by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
(Added by Ord. 106-08, File No. 080630, App. 6/24/2008; amended by Ord. 42-09, File No. 090100, App. 4/2/2009; Ord. 109-10, File No. 100048, App. 5/27/2010; repealed by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
(Added by Ord. 106-08, File No. 080630, App. 6/24/2008; amended by Ord. 42-09, File No. 090100, App. 4/2/2009; repealed by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
(Added by Ord. 106-08, File No. 080630, App. 6/24/2008; amended by Ord. 42-09, File No. 090100, App. 4/2/2009; Ord. 109-10, File No. 100048, App. 5/27/2010; repealed by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
(Added by Ord. 106-08, File No. 080630, App. 6/24/2008; repealed by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
(Added by Ord. 106-08, File No. 080630, App. 6/24/2008; amended by Ord. 42-09, File No. 090100, App. 4/2/2009; repealed by Ord. 51-17, File No. 161179, App. 3/17/2017, Eff. 4/16/2017)
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