KPBS: New California rules are crushing the solar industry

By Erik Anderson / Environment Reporter
Contributors: Roland Lizarondo / Video Journalist

Ross Williams has worked in the San Diego region’s residential solar industry since 2010, and he has never seen a darker business outlook for his firm, HES Solar.

That grim future is tied to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) changing the state’s solar rules a year ago, slashing the value of rooftop generated electricity.

The legislatively mandated review led to changes that cut the value of electricity generated by residential solar panels by 75% in the CPUC ruling, making it harder for residents to recover the cost of installing new systems. Solar arrays can carry price tags in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The change is pushing sales down and layoffs up as the nation’s largest solar industry shrinks in the face of a cloudy future.

KQED: More Changes Could Be Coming For California's Solar Market

WATCH: Regulators cast more clouds over California solar market

California regulators are poised to shake up the solar market for the state’s apartments, schools and farms.

An administrative law judge is proposing changes that critics say make the economics of investing in solar projects unappealing.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) rewrote the net energy metering (NEM) rules for solar on single-family homes last year and could do the same for bigger complexes that have one solar array with multiple metered hookups.

Canary Media: Can California pull off its clean energy ambitions? (Podcast)

On The Carbon Copy podcast this week:

California is at a crossroads. The state already has nearly 1.8 million rooftop-solar systems, 5 gigawatts of batteries and 1.6 million electric cars. But it is also facing some serious challenges.

The list is long: controversial policy changes, extreme weather threats and backlogs — lots and lots of backlogs.

It is facing serious delays in interconnecting utility-scale solar and storage projects, which is keeping fossil-gas-fired power plants open that were supposed to shut down years ago. And that’s not even counting the gigawatts of offshore wind, geothermal power, long-duration energy storage and other clean, firm resources called for in the state’s long-term plans — none of which have been built yet. 

This week, Jeff St. John, Canary Media’s director of news and special projects, sits down with three prominent people who are trying to move the state forward: 

• State Senator Josh Becker

• Grid Alternatives Bay Area Executive Director Arthur Bart-Williams

• California Solar and Storage Association Executive Director Bernadette Del Chiaro

This conversation was recorded live at Canary Live Bay Area.