Tag Archive for: rooftopsolar

Community-owned community solar provides an example of what a more equitable, decentralized clean energy transition could look like.

For energy transition equity, communities must run community solar

In 2021, the median income of a rooftop solar adapter was $110,000 a year. That same year, the U.S. median income was $63,000.

The gap is closing — in 2010, the median rooftop solar adapter made $138,000 compared to just under $50,000 for the median American — but it’s not closing fast enough to get enough solar to the people who need it most. Low-income families who need their bills cut fast, communities of color historically choked by ash and soot, people who don’t own their homes or who don’t have the cash to put panels on the roof are all left out of this transition. And it’s a lost opportunity during a climate crisis that demands we get as many renewables on the grid as fast as possible.

Not just community solar, but specifically community-owned community solar, provides an example of what a more equitable, decentralized clean energy transition could look like.

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Source: Utility Dive

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The policy approved unanimously by the California Public Utilities Commission lessens the overall payment for selling excess power.

California lowers incentives for rooftop solar panels

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.

The state has long led the nation in adoption of rooftop solar panels, and today more than 1.5 million California homes and other buildings have them. Under a decades-old program, people with solar panels can get paid by their power companies by sharing excess solar energy they don’t need, leading some solar homes to pay minimal electric bills.

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Source: The Washington Post

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California regulators on Thursday proposed changes to the state's residential solar market designed to encourage more at-home battery systems

California pushes incentive program to promote more at-home solar systems

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.

It’s the California Public Utilities Commission’s second attempt at updating the state’s incentive program for home solar systems. Last December, the commission proposed new charges for solar customers and lessened the subsidies for installing rooftop panels, which utilities wanted but solar companies warned would cripple the booming industry and hinder the state’s move to clean energy.

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Source: Fox News

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CPUC is considering changes to the rules on compensation for solar customers who generate excess power from their rooftop solar systems.

California Public Utilities Commission to hear oral arguments on rooftop solar rules

It looks like a decision is finally moving forward on a long-awaited and controversial rule affecting the roughly 1.3 million customers in California who have installed rooftop solar panels on their homes and businesses.

The California Public Utilities Commission said in a notice Friday it will hear oral arguments from parties who have battled one another over potential changes to NEM, or Net Energy Metering — the rules that determine the size of the credits customers receive on their utility bills when their rooftop solar systems generate more energy than they consume.

The remote hearing is set for Nov. 16 and will run for two hours.

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Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

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The study found about 1/3 of Golden State households that installed rooftop solar in 2021 were solidly working- and middle-class families.

California’s middle-income residents outpace wealthy in rooftop solar installations in 2021

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Middle-income and working-class Californians represented by far the largest block of the million-plus households in the state that installed rooftop solar in 2021, according to a new Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study.

The study shows how essential California’s subsidies for rooftop solar are in helping deploy the clean, renewable power source across the state. Solar not only cuts rates for consumers suffering from astronomical bills caused by California’s monopoly utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric, but it also helps to fight the climate crisis.

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Source: ewg

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Students have developed a policy proposal and urging government officials in Puerto Rico and Washington DC to promote rooftop solar power.

Students propose solar solution to Puerto Rico’s electricity woes

Students in a hands-on infrastructure class in the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy are urging government officials in Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. to promote rooftop solar power, and have developed a policy proposal that promotes the deployment of solar power in the most vulnerable communities.

Puerto Ricans have endured persistent and protracted power outages since Hurricane Maria devastated the Island in 2017. Hurricane Fiona last month was another reminder that the electricity problems continue. Students participating in the course concluded that rooftop solar must be a key part of the electricity infrastructure. The question is how.

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Source: Cornell Chronicle

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Solar activists protested at the California State Capitol as they await a decision to slash the rooftop incentive program to get solar panels

Solar activists protest at the California State Capitol ahead of looming decision on slashing solar incentives

Hundreds of people protested on the steps of the Capitol today as they await a decision to slash the rooftop incentive program to get solar panels.

The proposal from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) was released back in December, but pushback from those as high up as Gov. Gavin Newsom is likely delaying a final decision.

Their message painted on the street in front of the Capitol was hard to miss: “Gove, keep solar Growing.”

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Source: abc10

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Electricity-generating rooftop solar cells not only save on planet-warming carbon emissions, they also save a significant amount of water

Rooftop solar cells can be a boon for water conservation too

Electricity-generating rooftop solar cells not only save on planet-warming carbon emissions, they also save a significant amount of water, say a pair of Duke University researchers who have done the math.

A given household may save an average 16,200 gallons of water per year by installing rooftop solar, they found. In some states, like California, this saving can increase to 53,000 gallons, which is equivalent to 60 percent of the average household water use in the U.S.

You won’t see the savings on your home water bill, but they’re still important.

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Source: Duke Today

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Last week, California’s power grid was strained to the limit in the midst of a searing heat wave but was saved by their consumers.

Opinion: Californians saved the grid again. They should be paid more for it

Last week, for the second time in three years, California’s power grid was strained to the limit by record-high demand in the midst of a searing heat wave. But just like they did during the state’s grid emergencies of 2020, California consumers came to the rescue.

At around 5:45 p.m. on September 6, as state grid operator CAISO was preparing to initiate rolling blackouts to stave off grid collapse, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services issued a statewide text message alert asking people to ​“conserve energy now to protect public health and safety.” Over the next half an hour or so, demand dropped more than 2,000 megawatts below its record-setting peak of just over 52,000 megawatts.

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Source: Canary Media

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California’s new program will go beyond conventional community-solar design by stipulating requirements to serve equity and just-transition goals

California is finally unlocking community solar for the masses

California leads the nation in rooftop solar installations by a long shot. But it has never managed to craft a viable community solar market for people who can’t put panels on their own roofs. That’s been a glaring oversight in a state where median home prices in major cities have soared above $1 million, pushing home ownership out of reach for millions of residents.

But a late-summer legislative breakthrough could unleash community solar statewide in the next couple of years. AB 2316 passed the legislature by a broad majority last week with widespread support from interest groups — not just solar developers, but also environmental justice organizations, consumer advocates, the homebuilding industry and utility workers. By learning from successes and shortcomings in other states’ community solar programs, California designed its version to benefit customers, developers, workers and the overall power system at the same time.

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Source: Canary Media

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