During the final week of Oregon’s legislative session, HB 5006, the omnibus spending bill, has allocated $10 million to the Oregon Department of Energy for Solar + Storage Rebates. This is five-times the amount the program was originally awarded in 2019.
The program serves residential customers, low and moderate income customers and low-income service providers.
“This decision represents a strong step forward in OSSIA’s mission to expand solar markets and make solar accessible for all,” said Angela Crowely-Koch, executive director of the Oregon Solar + Storage Industries Association (OSSIA).
Under the program guidelines, low and moderate income customers may receive up to 60% of the cost of the storage system and other customers may receive up to 40%, up to $2,500. Low-income service providers may receive up to 60% of the cost of the storage system, up to $15,000.
“More and more customers are requesting storage systems connected to their solar systems to provide them with back-up power,” said Mark Farrell, board president of OSSIA and Oregon sales manager for A&R Solar.
News item from the Oregon Solar + Storage Industries Association
“Under the program guidelines, low and moderate income customers may receive up to 60% of the cost of the storage system and other customers may receive up to 40%, up to $2,500. Low-income service providers may receive up to 60% of the cost of the storage system, up to $15,000.”
IF one looks at the fund and the maximum of $15k, then that represents 667 installations. IF one looks at the funds and the minimum amount of $2,500, it represents 4,000 installations. IF one looks at some of the CCAs in California that have constructed ‘community’ Microgrids, it’s looking like at this level, the bang for the buck still has that “economies of scale” and a larger local impact larger than 4,000 homes. Just sayin’, pick your battles and invest wisely.
Solarman,
I am very interested in this point, but I need more detailed explanation to understand it. It is written in shorthand for an audience that is familiar with these calculations.
“During the final week of Oregon’s legislative session, HB 5006, the omnibus spending bill, has allocated $10 million to the Oregon Department of Energy for Solar + Storage Rebates. This is five-times the amount the program was originally awarded in 2019.”
All I did was “carve” up the $10 million dollar allocation into the minimum $2,500 to maximum $15,000 dollar “allowance” to show just how far this $10 million goes. There’s a lot of (IFs), but when one starts looking at local micro-grids installed on public buildings, that can use tax monies more efficiently, like for programs rather than electric bills, the public gets more bang for their buck. In California the CCA (Community Choice Aggregation) entities have helped level electricity costs when applied in community scale operations. Some of these micro-grids installed on Commercial or Industrial plants have allowed these entities to continue to operate even during the onerous PSPS, where power can be down for several hours or several days. The question to ask is where does this money spent do the most good for the very people this program is intended to ‘serve’.