Editorial: Solar installations are plummeting and California regulators are to blame
11 months, 3 weeks ago

Editorial: Solar installations are plummeting and California regulators are to blame

LA Times  

Solar Optimum installer Marat Poghosyan carries a solar panel on the roof of a home in Brea on June 15. California’s rooftop solar industry has declined dramatically since state regulators slashed consumer incentives, according to industry and utility data. That’s when the PUC’s changes to the net energy metering program took effect, slashing the compensation new solar customers receive for the excess power they feed into the grid. That’s backed up by data from Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric showing that customers’ applications to connect their solar systems to the grid dropped between 66% and 83% in the months since incentives were reduced, compared with the same time period in 2022. It’s not too late to reverse course, reestablish strong consumer incentives for solar systems with battery storage and stem the damage to a cornerstone of California’s clean energy future.

California Incentives State Rooftop State Regulators Solar Industry  incentives  state  california  blame  utilities  editorial  installations  rooftop  regulators  systems  plummeting  energy  solar  industry

History of this topic

Letters to the Editor: ‘Solar glut’ isn’t a solar problem — it’s a transmission and battery problem
3 weeks, 2 days ago

Letters to the Editor: ‘Solar glut’ isn’t a solar problem — it’s a transmission and battery problem

LA Times  

The Westlands Solar Park near the town of Lemoore in California’s San Joaquin Valley. To the editor: Every month, California throws away enough solar and wind energy to power half a million homes — not because we don’t need it, but because our system is designed to waste it. Until we align our grid operators’ incentives with our clean energy …

Solar power glut boosts California electric bills. Other states reap the benefits
4 weeks, 1 day ago

Solar power glut boosts California electric bills. Other states reap the benefits

LA Times  

California is making so much solar energy that large commercial operators are increasingly forced to stop production, raising questions about the state’s costly plan to shift entirely to carbon-free sources of electricity. The waste would have been even larger if California had not paid utilities in other states to take the excess solar energy, documents from the state’s grid operator …

Column: Newsom wants Californians to help on climate. He should help too
2 months, 3 weeks ago

Column: Newsom wants Californians to help on climate. He should help too

LA Times  

“Every day, Californians are taking small actions that collectively are helping us create a better world for our kids and grandkids,” Gov. One bill would have reversed a decision by Newsom’s appointees to the Public Utilities Commission that makes it more expensive for apartment renters, farmers, schools and strip malls to install rooftop solar panels. In his veto message for …

Rooftop solar has a fraud problem. The industry is working to build back trust
4 months, 1 week ago

Rooftop solar has a fraud problem. The industry is working to build back trust

NPR  

Rooftop solar has a fraud problem. We don't want people deceived, though,” says Adam Welle, a lawyer with the Minnesota Attorney General's Office who is pursuing a case against solar financing companies. Sponsor Message Milz says Graysquare Solar didn’t even appear in court to defend itself, “Actions speak louder than words.” The finance company involved in the Minto case, Solar …

Column: If Gavin Newsom is a climate champion, why did he just crush community solar?
6 months, 3 weeks ago

Column: If Gavin Newsom is a climate champion, why did he just crush community solar?

LA Times  

After months of outcry, the California Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to approve a solar energy program that critics are sure will fail spectacularly, making it impossible for many people to access an innovative global warming solution. All of which brings us back to Thursday’s vote by the Public Utilities Commission, which dealt with “community solar.” Community solar projects are …

Editorial: SoCal’s smog-cutting plan is failing and regulators would rather point fingers than fix it
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Editorial: SoCal’s smog-cutting plan is failing and regulators would rather point fingers than fix it

LA Times  

The downtown Los Angeles skyline shimmers in the smog on Sept. 1, 2022, as a plane taking off from Long Beach Airport climbs out of the haze. The region’s decades-long history of failure to meet federal health standards on smog reached a head Friday, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its intention to reject California’s plan to clean ozone, …

Column: Biden’s Western solar plan sounds scary. But it’s better than climate change
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Column: Biden’s Western solar plan sounds scary. But it’s better than climate change

LA Times  

An America flag flutters in the breeze at the Daggett solar farm in San Bernardino County, seen in October. Weiner also described the federal government’s maps as “grainy,” saying they offer “more of a 30,000-foot view than a ground-level view” of which public lands are suitable for solar. As an example, Donnelly pointed to the desert lands surrounding Nevada’s Ash …

Opinion: Here is one way California can end its rooftop solar wars
11 months, 1 week ago

Opinion: Here is one way California can end its rooftop solar wars

LA Times  

California needs to accelerate rooftop solar deployment, not constrain it. Because California has long been a leader in rooftop solar policy, the commission’s decisions may be imperiling rooftop solar elsewhere: Last month, Hawaii instituted similar cuts to its incentives. Without incentives, though, it doesn’t make financial sense for most Californians to install rooftop solar, meaning we all get less of …

Letters to the Editor: Will Newsom go down as the governor who killed solar in California?
11 months, 3 weeks ago

Letters to the Editor: Will Newsom go down as the governor who killed solar in California?

LA Times  

To the editor: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has failed electricity ratepayers, the rooftop solar industry and the need for us to transition away from polluting fossil fuel energy. His appointments to the California Public Utilities Commission, who voted twice in 2023 to reduce incentives for homes and businesses that install solar power systems, prioritize profit for the investor-owned utilities, resulting …

Column: How I learned to stop worrying and love rooftop solar
1 year ago

Column: How I learned to stop worrying and love rooftop solar

LA Times  

As global leaders celebrated a hard-fought agreement to triple the world’s renewable energy production and transition away from fossil fuels, an attorney for the state of California was in a San Francisco courtroom Wednesday, defending a decision by appointees of Gov. I don’t buy the argument made by some rooftop solar advocates that those net metering critics — and academic …

Column: California needs to get its act together on rooftop solar
1 year, 2 months ago

Column: California needs to get its act together on rooftop solar

LA Times  

Government officials in California and the rest of the country should be doing everything they can to support clean energy. In theory, a strong community solar program could help make up for cuts to “virtual net metering” — the solar incentive program for apartment dwellers, schools and farms that’s currently on the chopping block at the utilities commission. From Edison’s …

California has new weapons to battle summer blackouts: Battery storage, power from record rain
1 year, 4 months ago

California has new weapons to battle summer blackouts: Battery storage, power from record rain

LA Times  

An aircraft takes off from Los Angeles International Airport behind electric power lines at sunset It’s a summertime sequence that’s become all too familiar in California: Extreme heat forces air conditioners into overdrive, which pushes the state’s power grid to the brink. “In general, we’re doing better this summer because we have better hydro, we have more batteries.” Since last …

Editorial: Climate change is making California more expensive. Home insurance is the latest bellwether
1 year, 6 months ago

Editorial: Climate change is making California more expensive. Home insurance is the latest bellwether

LA Times  

It’s bad news that California’s largest home insurance provider, State Farm, decided it’s too risky and expensive to sell new policies in the state. It’s even worse news that State Farm simply publicized what other insurance companies have been doing quietly for several years by refusing to renew policies and pulling out of communities at risk for wildfires. The company …

Two weeks until California slashes rooftop solar incentives
1 year, 8 months ago

Two weeks until California slashes rooftop solar incentives

LA Times  

This story originally published in Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment. It’s been nearly a decade since California lawmakers ordered the state’s Public Utilities Commission to revamp a rooftop solar incentive program called net metering. Gavin Newsom’s appointees on the Public Utilities Commission, who said one of their goals in lowering incentive payments for standalone …

California lowers incentives for rooftop solar panels
2 years ago

California lowers incentives for rooftop solar panels

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California utility regulators on Thursday approved major changes to the state’s booming rooftop solar market that they say will more evenly spread the cost of energy and help reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels in the evening. That’s led to criticism that rooftop solar customers aren’t paying their fair share into the rest of the energy …

California just slashed rooftop solar incentives. What happens next?
2 years ago

California just slashed rooftop solar incentives. What happens next?

LA Times  

California sharply reduced incentive payments for rooftop solar power Thursday, taking a sledgehammer to a program that helped 1.5 million homes and businesses put solar panels on their roofs and made the state a leader in fighting the climate crisis. Solar installers and clean energy activists call that argument flawed, saying the technology’s benefits — including less air pollution in …

California seeks to pair home energy storage, rooftop solar
2 years, 1 month ago

California seeks to pair home energy storage, rooftop solar

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California regulators on Thursday proposed changes to the state’s residential solar market designed to encourage more at-home battery systems that can help the electrical grid rely less on fossil fuels in the evenings, especially during heat waves. Last December, the commission proposed new charges for solar customers and lessened the subsidies for installing rooftop panels, which utilities …

California pushes a new plan to cut rooftop solar incentives
2 years, 1 month ago

California pushes a new plan to cut rooftop solar incentives

LA Times  

California is poised to reduce payments to homes and businesses that go solar for clean electricity they supply to the power grid — a landmark shift in how the state promotes a crucial technology for fighting climate change. In a written statement, the Affordable Clean Energy for All campaign — which is funded by the three monopoly utilities — said …

California’s epic heat wave is over. Here’s what we learned
2 years, 3 months ago

California’s epic heat wave is over. Here’s what we learned

LA Times  

This is the Sept. 15, 2022, edition of Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. The panelists included several government officials charged with solving these problems, including Marty Adams, general manager of the L.A. Department of Water and Power; Stacey Crowley of the California Independent System Operator, which operates the …

Joe Manchin Finally Signed Off on a Climate Bill. Does Everyone Get Free Solar Panels Now?
2 years, 4 months ago

Joe Manchin Finally Signed Off on a Climate Bill. Does Everyone Get Free Solar Panels Now?

Slate  

After a year of thwarted plans, Senate Democrats might actually use their majority to pass a gigantic climate bill that could reduce emissions by a major amount? Build Back Better is dead; long live the Inflation Reduction Act, a big social and climate spending bill that it seems everyone from the Squad to Larry Summers can get behind. On top …

California prepares for energy shortfalls in hot, dry summer
2 years, 7 months ago

California prepares for energy shortfalls in hot, dry summer

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California likely will have an energy shortfall equivalent to what it takes to power about 1.3 million homes when use is at its peak during the hot and dry summer months, state officials said Friday. They represented the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission, and the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s energy …

Should California slash solar incentives? We took a survey
2 years, 11 months ago

Should California slash solar incentives? We took a survey

LA Times  

Yajaira Villanueva of Temecula, an employee of the solar company Freedom Forever, attends the “Save Our Solar Jobs” rally at Grand Park in Los Angeles on Jan. 13. When California gets it wrong, others will get it wrong, too.” Nicole H.: “I invested $40,000 to do the responsible thing, and I’m providing excess solar energy to my neighbors! If they …

Editorial: California isn’t on pace to meet its climate targets. Here are 3 ways to cut pollution faster
3 years ago

Editorial: California isn’t on pace to meet its climate targets. Here are 3 ways to cut pollution faster

LA Times  

Solar panels seen at California at Buchanan High School in Clovis. Strengthen zero-emission vehicle rules and incentives Transportation remains California’s largest source of planet-warming pollution, but the switch to zero-emission vehicles isn’t happening fast enough to meet the state’s goals to reduce emissions and end sales of gas-powered models by 2035. Get more renewable electricity online, fast The power sector …

California's plan to cut rooftop solar incentives, explained
3 years ago

California's plan to cut rooftop solar incentives, explained

LA Times  

This is the Dec. 16, 2021, edition of Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. Instead, it fully endorses the “cost shift” argument made by utility companies and others — that net metering leads to higher electricity rates for Californians who can’t afford solar. Utility industry In a written statement, …

California proposes reducing incentives for rooftop solar
3 years ago

California proposes reducing incentives for rooftop solar

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California regulators proposed major changes to the state’s booming residential solar industry Monday, including reducing the discounts homeowners with rooftop solar and storage systems get on their electric bills when they sell extra energy back to the power companies. The state’s three major utilities — Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Southern California …

California proposes big changes to rooftop solar incentives
3 years ago

California proposes big changes to rooftop solar incentives

LA Times  

California officials want to slash payments for rooftop solar power, saying the changes would help the state achieve 100% clean energy while keeping the lights on, preventing electricity rates from rising and encouraging people to install batteries. Walker Wright, vice president of public policy at San Francisco-based Sunrun, the nation’s largest rooftop solar installer, was similarly displeased, saying in a …

Editorial: Don’t slash incentives for California rooftop solar
3 years ago

Editorial: Don’t slash incentives for California rooftop solar

LA Times  

A crew with the nonprofit GRID Alternatives installs rooftop solar panels at a home in Watts in June. Sweeping changes being sought by utility companies and their allies would make going solar more expensive for regular people and undermine the nation’s largest, most robust rooftop market. Reaching California’s clean-energy goals and confronting climate change will require both large-scale solar farms …

California labor unions, solar firms clash on clean energy
3 years, 1 month ago

California labor unions, solar firms clash on clean energy

LA Times  

A surfer heads for the water as solar advocates finish writing a 200-foot message in the sand in Huntington Beach, near the site of an October oil spill. The idea of barring most rooftop solar companies from installing batteries — unless they also obtain an electrical contractor’s license, which requires employees performing electrical work to be certified electricians — was …

The future of rooftop solar is up for grabs in California
3 years, 1 month ago

The future of rooftop solar is up for grabs in California

LA Times  

Nick Criscito, left, and Avril Engelhart join dozens of others at a Nov. 1 protest organized by the Solar Rights Alliance outside a Southern California Edison office in Long Beach. Gavin Newsom’s appointees on the California Public Utilities Commission to reduce the electric bill credits homes receive when they sign up for net metering, the incentive program that has fueled …

Should California make solar more expensive? Inside the climate justice battle
3 years, 1 month ago

Should California make solar more expensive? Inside the climate justice battle

LA Times  

Parakeets and lovebirds were chirping in Marta Patricia Martinez’s frontyard as a crew of solar installers climbed onto her roof. “We will fall horribly short of our clean energy goals if we kill the rooftop solar market,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar & Storage Assn. Building lots of rooftop solar “makes it easier and cheaper.” …

Solar on farmland could help California keep the lights on
3 years, 5 months ago

Solar on farmland could help California keep the lights on

LA Times  

This is the July 8, 2021, edition of Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. At least 300 megawatts of gas-fired power won’t be available either due to “unforeseen circumstances.” And a few hundred megawatts of new energy resources that were expected to be ready to go by Aug. 1 …

How rooftop solar could save Americans $473 billion
3 years, 11 months ago

How rooftop solar could save Americans $473 billion

LA Times  

This is the Jan. 7, 2021, edition of Boiling Point, a weekly newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. That calculation is based on Clack’s exhaustively detailed model of the U.S. electric grid, which he says includes 10,000 times more data points than traditional models and allows for a better accounting of rooftop solar’s …

California is scrambling to avoid blackouts. Your refrigerator could help
3 years, 11 months ago

California is scrambling to avoid blackouts. Your refrigerator could help

LA Times  

Sometime next summer, there’s a decent chance a heat wave will bake the American West, and California’s power grid will again be stretched to its limits. Subscribe Officials at the commission and the California Independent System Operator say they’re optimistic about so-called virtual power plants that string together hundreds or thousands of batteries, as well as “flexible demand” programs that …

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