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 the installation of more than 1.3 million solar systems. GRID Alternatives solar installers Juan Alcantara, left, Sal Miranda and Lee Kwok place rooftop panels on Marta Patricia Martinez’s home in Watts. So there’s a lot more to the rooftop solar story than net metering. They say rooftop solar will continue to grow, in part because of California’s first-in-the-nation requirement for solar panels on new homes.

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History of this topic

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

India seeks to boost rooftop solar, especially for its remote areas
10 months ago

India seeks to boost rooftop solar, especially for its remote areas

The Hindu  

Just a few years ago, someone who wanted to install a rooftop solar connection in India faced getting multiple approvals, finding a reliable company to install the panels and spending heavily before seeing the first surge of clean energy. “We had to get 45 signatures to set up a small rooftop solar connection in 2021,” said Shreya Mishra, CEO of …

India wants to hook its population onto clean energy by boosting rooftop solar
10 months ago

India wants to hook its population onto clean energy by boosting rooftop solar

Associated Press  

BENGALURU, India — Just a few years ago, someone who wanted to install a rooftop solar connection in India faced getting multiple approvals, finding a reliable company to install the panels and spending heavily before seeing the first surge of clean energy. “We had to get 45 signatures to set up a small rooftop solar connection in 2021,” said Shreya …

'Staggering' rise of rooftop solar to put all other power generation in the shade, report finds
10 months ago

'Staggering' rise of rooftop solar to put all other power generation in the shade, report finds

ABC  

In short: The capacity of rooftop solar will soon exceed that of coal, gas and hydro combined in Australia's main grid, a green energy report finds. The capacity of rooftop solar will soon exceed that of coal, gas and hydro combined in Australia's main grid, a green energy report finds. The capacity of rooftop solar in Australia will eclipse the …

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 …

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 …

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 …

New study brings us closer to solar space farms that beam renewable energy back to Earth
1 year, 1 month ago

New study brings us closer to solar space farms that beam renewable energy back to Earth

Salon  

It sounds like a long shot to some: The idea of solar power plants orbiting the Earth and beaming renewable energy back to us. "This ultra-low mass solar cell technology could lead to large, low-cost solar power stations deployed in space, bringing clean energy back to Earth." "This ultra-low mass solar cell technology could lead to large, low-cost solar power …

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 …

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 …

Rooftop solar energy to power nation's green development
2 years, 8 months ago

Rooftop solar energy to power nation's green development

China Daily  

Photovoltaic panels are installed on rooftops at an NEV service station in Tianjin in August. Rooftop installations in China increased to 27.3 gigawatts in 2021 from 19.4 GW in 2017, and the growth should keep rising for the rooftop solar market, a Rystad Energy analysis piece said. The increased adoption of rooftop installations in China has also driven the world's …

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 …

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 …

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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