Following in Xcel Energy's footsteps, Black Hills Energy is reducing the solar rebate for small category systems in Colorado (less than 10kW). The rebate will drop from $3.50 per watt down to $2.70 per watt, a reduction of 23%.

This $0.80 per watt reduction in the Black Hills Energy solar rebate will be effective at Midnight tonight (January 15th).

The Black Hills Energy solar rebate, like Xcel Energy, is a combination of a rebate payment and a renewable energy credit (REC) payment. The REC payment of the small category incentive (currently at $1.50 per watt) will decrease to $0.70 per watt, the rebate payment ($2 per watt) is fixed and thus will remain unchanged.

Xcel Energy has initiated similar reductions to their solar rewards rebates over the past several months. Xcel released a new tiered rebate system to inform solar integrators and customers exactly when and how their solar rebate would change in the future. The California Solar Initiative (CSI) has a similar method of distributing rebates.

If you are a Black Hills Energy customer in Colorado, please contact us today if you are interested in solar for your home or business.

A recent study by the IREC found that Colorado is ranked 3rd among states in capacity for collecting solar energy through 2008. The top five were:

California: 528 MW
New Jersey: 70 MW
Colorado: 36 MW
Nevada: 34 MW
Arizona: 25 MW

Now if you take these numbers and factor in the state popluation, you get these figures:

California: 14.56 W / per Person
Nevada: 13.07 W / per Person
New Jersey: 8.06 W / per Person
Colorado: 7.28 W / per Person
Arizona: 3.84 W / per Person

On the global scale, the group’s latest report shows Germany as the world leader in solar power, with 5,400 megawatts, or about 1 percent of the country’s total generating capacity.

[Source: NY Times]