On Wednesday the Biden administration’s Energy Department released a blueprint to produce 45% of the nation’s electricity through solar energy by 2050 as a critical part of the effort to fight climate change. A new report from the Energy Department clarified that meeting the goal requires the U.S. to “install an average of 30 GW of solar capacity per year between now and 2025 and 60 GW per year from 2025-2030.” That commitment means an immediate doubling of the amount of solar being built today. In 2020, the U.S. installed a record 15 GW of solar power, bringing total capacity up to 76 GW which represents 3% of the national electricity supply.
At the same time, in California the Newsom Administration’s Public Utilities Commission is moving towards a critical decision that will determine whether rooftop solar continues to grow or whether the state puts the brakes on this form of popular clean energy. At issue is the future of net metering, which makes rooftop solar affordable for everyday consumers by blocking discriminatory fees and compensating people for the excess energy they produce and share with their neighbors.
Currently 1.2 million consumers use net metering, including thousands of public schools and apartment buildings. The policy is responsible for dramatically growing rooftop solar in California by making it more affordable to working and middle class households, which now represent nearly half the solar market. Proposals submitted by California’s investor owned utilities would halt the expansion of rooftop solar by reducing the credit solar consumers receive for the excess energy they produce and adding a $65 to $90 monthly solar penalty fee to their energy bills. Whether solar energy continues to grow on par with the Biden blueprint hangs in the balance.
The California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA) released the following statement on the Biden administration’s plan from CALSSA executive director Bernadette Del Chiaro:
“Solar consumers, workers, small business owners and clean energy advocates all over our state applaud the Biden administration’s goal to produce nearly half of our national energy from the sun within the next 30 years. The new plan aligns with California’s established goal of getting to 100% by 2045, but puts a clear emphasis on the here and now by showing the near term needs for solar growth today, not just in 25 years.
No matter how you add it up, these ambitious and necessary clean energy commitments will require a lot more solar energy, not less. California, and America at-large, need all forms of solar energy to grow, including utility-scale solar that investor-owned utilities prefer, but to make the transition to 100% clean energy, and to make that transition less expensive for ratepayers while helping conserve open space, requires advancing rooftop solar in a big way.
Because of rooftop solar’s essential role in meeting state and national clean energy goals, it is especially puzzling that the CPUC, at the request of large investor owned utilities, is considering drastic changes to net metering. Proposals by the utilities would pull the plug on the expansion of rooftop solar by making it prohibitively expensive for consumers of all types to benefit from solar in their homes, businesses and schools.
The utility-driven effort to kill rooftop solar in California is out of step with our clean energy goals at a time when the climate crisis demands we help a lot more people go solar.”
Additional Roof Top Solar Resources
Cost savings: A new grid modeling report from Vibrant Clean Energy shows growing local solar and storage would save California ratepayers $120 billion over the next 30 years, the equivalent of $295 per year for the average California ratepayer. Utility proposes to curb rooftop solar would have the opposite effect. By essentially halting the local solar and storage market, and turning potential savings into costs borne by consumers, the utility profit grab would cost California tens of billions over time and each ratepayer $295 a year.
Ability to scale up fast: California is currently building a power plant’s worth of rooftop solar - 500 megawatts - every five months. Rooftop solar can be up on homes and apartments in a matter of days and operating on commercial properties in weeks -- faster than any other reviewable energy can come online. By contrast, utility scale solar projects take an average of six years to complete.
Land use: A new study by Environment California found that building 28.5 GW of rooftop solar, rather than utility-scale solar, would enable California to maintain existing land uses on more than 148,000 acres of land, an area about half the size of the City of Los Angeles.