Colorado Solar Rebate Program to Restart

After long days of negotiations, Xcel Energy has finally agreed to restart its Solar*Rewards program as early as next week, pending PUC approval this Friday, March 18th. The negotiated agreement had to address three primary goals:

- Provide greater predictability and stability for solar businesses and customers
- Address the program cash flow challenges
- Reduce the program's nearly $100 million debt load

All three goals have been met and COSEIA, along with coalition partners, was able to negotiate the up-front incentive payment to$1.75/watt + $0.04/kWh performance-based incentive over 10 years for the small customer-owned category (Xcel was proposing $0.25/watt + $1/REC).

Third-party owned and mid-sized programs will move immediately to a performance-based incentive (PBI), paid over a 20 year period:

- Small third-party owned systems $0.16/kWh PBI
- Mid-sized systems $0.15/kWh PBI

As with before, all incentives will ratchet down over time based on capacity installed to help balance the program budget.

The agreement also includes language that prohibits Xcel from taking unilateral action without PUC approval -- and of course we, as an industry, need to do our part to live within our program's means. Funding is not unlimited.

Xcel's actions have come at a significant cost and we're going to continue to do everything possible to promote a more stable marketplace during these challenging times. 

READ MORE FROM CoSEIA's REPORT HERE