The Single-family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) Program originated with the California Public Utilities Commission proposal to set aside a minimum of 10% of California Solar Initiative Program funds for projects installed on the homes of low-income residential customers. One of the two programs, the SASH Program represents half of that 10% fund, with a budget of $108.34 million. GRID Alternatives is the statewide Program Manager for the SASH Program. The SASH Program offers incentives on PV solar systems to qualifying low-income homeowners in the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas and Electric territory (SDG&E) service territories.
The SASH Program will operate either until December 31, 2015, or when all funds available from the program’s incentive budget have been allocated, whichever event occurs first.
The overall goal of the SASH Program is to provide existing low-income single-family homes with access to photovoltaic (PV) systems to decrease electricity usage and bills without increasing monthly household expenses. The SASH Program design includes an incentive structure that provides a fully-subsidized 1kW PV-solar system to “very-low income” households, and a partial-subsidy to qualified “low-income” households. The structure of the partial-subsidies is as follows:
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SASH Program: Solar Incentives in $/Watt |
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Federal Tax Liability |
CARE*-Eligible Homeowners |
Homeowners not eligible for CARE* |
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| $0 | $7.00/W | $5.75/W | ||||||
| $1-$1000 | $6.50/W | $5.25/W | ||||||
| $1001+ | $6.00/W | $4.75/W | ||||||
*If the Applicant qualifies for the CARE program but is not currently enrolled, GRID Alternatives will work with the Applicant to enroll them into the CARE program.
To summarize, the SASH Program aims to do the following:
- Stimulate adoption of solar power in the affordable housing sector
- Decrease electricity use and lower monthly household expenses for low-income households. Read about SASH's Impact…
- Improve energy usage practices and overall quality of affordable housing through solar and energy efficiency technologies, as well as education. More on energy efficiency…
- Support local green-job training and workforce development programs by enabling trainees to participate in solar electric system installations. Read about GRID Alternatives's workforce development initiatives…
SASH Program installations are ramping up throughout California...Read more...
