City of Palo Alto CA : Solar Programs in Palo Alto

Considering solar?

Rebates are still available for residential and commercial solar water heating installations. Please visit the Solar Water Heating program page here.

Information on residential solar power (PV) can be found here.

PV Rebates still available for Palo Alto accounts served by a commercial electric rate (E-2, E-4 or E-7).For more information on the PV Partners rebate program click here.

How much solar PV is in town?

As of 1/04/16 Palo Alto has 7,303 kilowatts (kW), representing 77% towards Palo Alto's Net Metering cap of 9,500 kW.

California state law requires electric utilities to offer net energy metering and billing to solar customers until the total amount of solar capacity reaches 5% of the utilities' peak demand. The City of Palo Alto is developing the Net Energy Metering (NEM) Successor program for customers that install solar PV after the Net Energy Metering cap has been reached. The most recent NEM Successor program report can be found here.

Harnessing the power of the sun!

Palo Alto is using clean, renewable electric supplies as an integral part of its plans for a more sustainable future.

We feel investing in solar systems locally and statewide is a great way to achieve our environmental goals.By the end of 2016, we expect 32% of the City's total electricity supply will come from solar PV systems located in California. Click here to view a map of the utility-scale PV system locations.
Local solar plan:On April 21, 2014 the Palo Alto City Council approved a resolution to establish the Local Solar Plan to increase the installation of local solar photovoltaic facilities in order to provide 4 percent of the City's total energy needs by 2023. Future programs under evaluation include a Community Solar Program, Group-Buy solar discount program and a solar donation program.

Palo Alto's solar technical potential map is located here.

Watch an interviewwith Marketing Engineer Lindsay Joye about solar initiatives in Palo Alto.
Local generation:Large in-town systems to provide electric generation directly to the utility. Palo Alto's CLEAN (or feed in tariff)program, offers commercial generators the option of signing a long-term contract to sell the renewable energy to the utility as it is produced.

Streamlined permit process:Palo Alto's PV Permitting Instructions are listed here.Visit the City's Development Center webpage describing their improved permitting procedure.

Learn more about our renewable energy portfolio:The City of Palo Alto has a carbon neutral electric utility portfolio. This means that we have contracts for large amounts of renewable electricity resources, including solar systems, wind farms, hydroelectric projects and landfill gas facilities. Get the full scoop on these resources.

Last Updated: Jan 4, 2016