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The energy contained in the 25,000 gallons of oil spilled on the beaches of Orange County last month is offset in just one hour by the energy exported to the grid by California’s customer-sited rooftop solar systems, according to a recent analysis by the California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA).  In other words, the 1.3 million customer-sited solar systems located mostly on roofs of homes, schools, and apartment buildings thanks to policies like Net Energy Metering (NEM) export to the grid as much energy in one hour as was contained in the 25,000 gallons of oil spilled near Huntington Beach last month. The energy that isn’t “spilled”, or exported, onto the grid is used onsite by the home or school or business that hosts the solar system. In total, today’s rooftop solar systems produce twice as much energy every hour as recently contaminated the beaches of Orange County.

For those wanting to do something positive for the environment, this same analysis shows that it takes just four rooftop solar systems operating for their estimated lifetime (20 years) to displace the 25,000 gallons of oil. Approximately 1 in 10 buildings in California host a rooftop solar system. Combined, these systems have more than 10 gigawatts of clean energy capacity (NOTE: A nuclear reactor is typically around 1 gigawatt). According to the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), California could host nearly 130 gigawatts of solar on rooftops throughout the state. This means California could really go a long way toward getting off oil by doing more to invest in rooftop solar.

The current debate around Net Energy Metering, as was reported on yesterday by Sammy Roth of the Los Angeles Times, is crucial to the future growth of rooftop solar in California. Utilities are lobbying the Newsom Administration to gut the program making solar more expensive for everyday consumers. Doing so would hamstring the state’s efforts to get off oil and cost ratepayers billions in higher utility bills, not to mention the cost of events like the Orange County oil spill.

CALSSA is joining with allies to call on Governor Newsom to stand up to the utilities and stand up for consumer solar. People are encouraged to sign a public comment to the governor and the California Public Utilities Commission to support a strong rooftop solar market.