San Francisco just thrust solar power further into the limelight.

The city's Board of Supervisors recently voted to launch a citywide cash incentive program for rooftop solar panel power generation.

It's the largest municipal solar initiative in the nation.

That means you get money back -- and lots of it -- for installing rooftop solar systems to generate electricity.

The big news is that the city's solar panel incentive piggy-backs rebates onto existing state and federal incentives.

For example, an average solar system costs about $30,000 including installation.

With the maximum rebates available, San Francisco residents can get $6,000 through the San Francisco Solar Energy Incentive Program; $2,000 from federal energy tax credits and $4,500 from the state's California Solar Initiative.

That's a maximum total of $12,500 that can be rebated to San Francisco residents, leaving them on the hook for the remaining $17,500.

To help lower costs more, a community movement in San Francisco, called One Block Off The Grid, is coordinating a group buying effort to cut costs.

Also, a growing number of lenders offer special, low-interest loans for solar panel purchases and installation.

Rooftop solar panel installation also can be eligible for an Energy Efficient Mortgage.

What's more, solar panels can increase the value of your home.

Let the sun shine in.

Published: July 7, 2008

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.