Source: California Public Utilities Commission. Based on SGIP applications with the status "Incentive Claim Form Pending Payment", "Payment PBI in Process", or "Payment Completed".
Data last updated on August 14,2023.
Analysis by Beacon Economics
Highlights
- The CPUC's Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP)137 provides incentives to support existing, new, and emerging distributed energy resources (DERs). DERs are defined as distribution-connected distributed generation resources, energy efficiency, energy storage, electric vehicles, and demand response technologies. These DERs play an important role in identifying optional portfolios of resources under the state’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), as specified in Public Utilities Code §454.51 and §454.52. For the SGIP program, all sectors are eligible. Most of the rebates are issued to customers in the residential sector that have advanced storage system (e.g., electrochemical storage) as an eligible DER.
- Since 2018, the residential sector had the most rebate-qualifying DERs, whereas previously, the commercial and government sectors had the most rebate-qualifying DERs. Notably, in 2020, single family residential became a leading sector in terms of rebate-qualifying DERs. Note that most of the projects that would fall in the educational and nonprofit category are part of the “equity” bucket of incentives, and the budget for equity projects has been fully exhausted.138 Almost all the rated capacity is for electrochemical storage technologies (such as lithium-ion battery storage) in the residential sector. By comparison, before 2018, fuel cell electric and gas turbine were the most popular DERs technologies by rated capacity. In 2022, 31.9 MW of electrochemical storage qualified for SGIP rebates, down 61.6 percent compared to 2021, which had 83.2 MW.
137 There are three incentive level designations that provide rebates for qualifying distributed energy systems installed on the customer’s side of the utility meter. Qualifying technologies include wind turbines, waste heat to power technologies, pressure reduction turbines, internal combustion engines, micro-turbines, gas turbines, fuel cells, and advanced energy storage systems. Level 1 designation expired in 2006; only Levels 2 and 3 are active.
138 Participating in Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).” California Public Utilities Commission. Available at: https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/
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