New Poll Shows CPUC’s Proposal to Tax Solar and Slash Incentives is Extremely Unpopular with California Voters

“It is clear that any proposal including a tax on rooftop solar is going to be a non-starter with California voters.”

CALIFORNIA— A new poll released today shows the California Public Utilities Commission’s proposed decision on rooftop solar net metering is extremely unpopular with California voters. 

Consistent with previous opinion research, rooftop solar is held in especially high esteem in the sunshine state. According to the poll, a supermajority—85 percent—of likely 2022 voters want California to do more, or about the same as it currently does, to encourage the use of solar power. Strong majority support for encouraging solar is found among Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. 

When asked about net metering, the policy responsible for making solar affordable by crediting solar customers for the excess energy they produce and send back to the grid, 78 percent of voters express support. Not surprisingly then, nearly two thirds of voters—62 percent—oppose a proposal to “add a new fixed monthly fee on most people who install rooftop solar and reduce the credit” they receive for their extra energy.

“Governor Newsom recently said ‘there’s more work to be done’ on the CPUC’s proposal. While we really appreciate his acknowledgement, it might be the understatement of the year based on how toxic the proposal is,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of the California Solar & Storage Association. “It is clear that any proposal including a tax on rooftop solar is going to be a non-starter with California voters.”  

The poll was conducted as the California Public Utilities Commission gets ready to vote on a net metering proposal that solar advocates hope is a dramatic improvement from the initial proposed decision. The proposed decision released by the CPUC in December would implement a monthly penalty fee on solar consumers, adding up to nearly $700 a year, while slashing credits for solar consumers by 80 percent on average. The proposal is being met with intense opposition from environmentalists, conservationists, affordable housing advocates, civil rights leaders, along with solar consumers, workers and small businesses. An expected vote on the current proposed decision was recently delayed by the CPUC.  

Voters predict a grim outlook for energy bills, solar growth, and fighting climate change if a change along the lines of the CPUC’s proposed decision is passed. A majority of voters believe the changes to net metering will increase their electric bill. 64 percent of property owners without solar currently would be less likely to consider solar installation with the proposed changes. 65 percent of property owners currently with solar said they would be less likely to install solar if they moved to a new home. Nearly half of voters surveyed said net metering changes will actually slow down California’s progress in combating climate change. 

Despite an extended advertising campaign, voters are not buying the message from utility special interests that solar users are to blame for energy rate hikes. That reason is supported by just 11 percent of voters and the lowest of all options provided in the survey including the costs of building new electric transmission lines (15 percent), grid maintenance (33 percent), managing wildfire danger (41 percent), and utility companies seeking to maintain or boost their profits (51 percent). 

“California voters are no fools. They love rooftop solar and they know utilities who try to convince them otherwise do not really have the interest of consumers, climate or clean energy in mind,” said Dave Rosenfeld, Executive Director of the Solar Rights Alliance. “Californians understand utilities have a profit motive in killing off solar compensation. And you cannot blame voters for their distrust of big utilities like PG&E which caused California’s second largest fire in state history and was found guilty of 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter, to say nothing of their continual bill increases.” 

When provided both the perspectives of rooftop solar advocates and utility interests, most sided with solar:

The poll was conducted by Benenson Strategy Group and included 887 interviews with likely 2022 voters in California from January 15-19, 2022. Interviews were conducted using SMS text-to-web services, on landline phones, and with online panels. The sample was weighted to ensure it was proportionally representative of likely 2022 voters in California. The margin of sampling error is ±3.29% for the full sample at the 95% confidence level.

Senate Passes Senator Wiener’s Legislation to Implement Automated Solar Permitting

SB 379 — the Solar Access Act — requires California cities to provide online, instant solar permitting to streamline remote approvals

SACRAMENTO – Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco)’s legislation, Senate Bill 379, the Solar Access Act, has passed the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 31-1. It now moves to the Assembly to be heard in policy committees. SB 379 implements instant, online solar permitting in counties with over 150,000 residents. This legislation will greatly decrease approval times for residential solar and solar-plus-storage systems, cut permitting costs for local governments and homeowners, and help California meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. SB 379 is co-sponsored by SPUR and Environment California.

Climate change is a dire threat, and California must accelerate its transition to clean energy in order to meet its target to become carbon neutral by 2045. Widespread installation of residential solar systems has helped push California towards these goals. However, while the cost of solar technology has decreased in recent years, the high costs associated with installation — including local permitting and inspection requirements — have remained prohibitive for many. Delays due to long permit and inspection wait times also hurt solar implementation across the state. Automated permitting solves both of these issues; the Solar Access Act will allow California to implement a timely and comprehensive solution.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a project within the U.S. Department of Energy, has created a free-to-use program to support local governments with residential solar and solar-plus-storage system permitting. SolarAPP+ provides a web-based portal that streamlines and automates permit reviews, and can be easily implemented into existing local government permitting software. The Solar Access Act requires counties with more than 150,000 residents, and all cities within those counties, to implement instant online permitting for solar and solar-plus-storage systems, via programs like SolarAPP+. The requirement will go into effect starting September 30, 2024 for cities under 50,000 residents, and September 30, 2023 for cities over 50,000 residents. The California Energy Commission (CEC) is preparing a program to deploy $20 million in grants to help cities and counties adopt online automated permitting systems such as SolarAPP+.

NREL first introduced SolarAPP+ in late 2020 and has slowly expanded the program’s capabilities. Many local jurisdictions, including Pleasant Hill, Sonoma County, San Jose, and Los Angeles have already begun implementation of automated permitting with great success. Pleasant Hill has reduced their average permit review time to zero days (same-day approval) since adopting SolarAPP+ for instantaneous automated permitting.

“Automated solar permitting is a powerful tool to help residents get solar on rooftops faster and cheaper,” said Senator Wiener. “SB 379’s passage through the Senate is a strong indication of our state’s commitment to meeting and surpassing our clean energy goals now and in the future.”

Solar Workers and Supporters Rally and March in Los Angeles and San Francisco to Save Solar Jobs from Utility Profit Grab

The CPUC’s proposed decision under consideration would tax rooftop solar customers and reduce compensation for clean energy, threatening 50,000+ family-supporting green jobs and derailing California’s clean energy progress 

CALIFORNIA—Thousands of solar workers joined solar consumers, housing advocates, faith leaders, environmentalists, conservationists, and climate activists today to make their voices heard in a statewide effort to save more than 50,000 family-supporting green jobs in the rooftop solar industry. Workers and supporters held simultaneous rallies and marches to California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) buildings in Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

1200+ solar workers and supporters descend on the CPUC in downtown San Francisco

Solar jobs are threatened due to a recent proposed decision by the CPUC on the future of “net metering.” Net metering is the state policy that makes rooftop solar more affordable for consumers, particularly in middle and working class neighborhoods where solar is growing fastest, by compensating them for the excess energy they produce and share with their neighbors. The CPUC proposed decision would make solar unaffordable for most consumers, threatening jobs and small businesses throughout the state, by imposing a new $684 a year solar tax and slashing consumer credits for solar by 80%.

In San Francisco, a rally took place at the center strip of Civic Center Plaza near City Hall, before solar workers and consumers, housing advocates, faith leaders, environmentalists, conservationists, and climate activists marched to the CPUC headquarters. In Los Angeles, solar workers and supporters rallied at the Grant Park performance lawn before a march with banners, hand-held signs and balloons to CPUC’s downtown office. Both rallies were joined by solar workers and advocates from across the state, rallying to stop a prohibitive tax on solar and protect local jobs.

1500+ solar workers and supporters gathered in downtown Los Angeles at Grand Park, before marching to the LA PUC building.

“This proposed decision completely reverses California’s progress on clean energy and green jobs,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of California Solar & Storage Association. “The thousands of hard working men and women who provide clean, reliable energy for millions of consumers came out here today to fight for their jobs, for affordable and clean energy, and for their state to get back on track as a solar leader.”

Despite the overwhelming popularity of rooftop solar in California, and the strong public support for programs to increase solar energy in California, the CPUC is proposing a giveaway to investor-owned utilities that would boost utility profits at the expense of energy consumers, green jobs, and California’s clean energy future. PG&E and other big utilities want to change the rules in their favor in order to eliminate a growing competitor, keep consumers stuck in utility monopolies, and maintain the need for costly and often dangerous transmission lines that are a key driver of utility profits and ratepayer costs. 

If utilities get their way, solar will become unaffordable for most middle and working class consumers, costing tens of thousands of solar jobs, making California more vulnerable to fires and blackouts, and derailing California’s clean energy progress needed to fight climate change.

“I’ve seen my colleagues and I work hard to keep the lights on across the state during the pandemic,” said Ferrer Sanders, a solar worker with A1 Sun in the Bay Area. “This proposed decision feels like a punch in the gut for local solar workers who are working every day to keep communities safe and electrified. We should be making solar more affordable, and not less, for everyone.”

“My job is among tens of thousands of jobs on the line,” said Joel Ellazar, a solar worker at HES Solar who traveled to LA from the San Diego area. “California’s leadership has the opportunity to support the lives and livelihoods of solar workers, small businesses, and communities today, or watch utilities destroy the progress we have made over the years.”

The Save CA Solar coalition, which includes more than 600 diverse organizations, has helped generate 120,000+ public comments submitted in support of net metering ahead of the CPUC proposed decision. The coalition will continue calling on the CPUC to find a better way to support solar in California ahead of the final vote, including encouraging Governor Newsom to step in with a solution that saves solar jobs and keeps California on the path to 100% clean energy.

“For the last year, a diverse coalition of organizations, leaders, consumers, and workers have kept speaking up for solar, and to make sure California stays a solar state,” said Dave Rosenfeld, Director of the Solar Rights Alliance. “We want the CPUC and Governor Newsom to understand just how unpopular the idea of putting utility profits over people is in California.”

The CPUC will hold a final vote on the future of net metering following a 25-day comment period on the proposed decision and alternative proposals. The current proposal is set for a vote on January 27 but that date could be moved if an alternate decision is proposed. The proposed changes to net metering could go into effect as early as this Spring.  

TV News Clips of the Jan 13 rallies from Around the State

We received a lot of local coverage. You can view the full database of clips, or here are a few curated clips from around the state:

CBSN Bay Area

Spectrum 1 in LA.

NBC in Santa Cruz/ Monterey

ABC 10 in San Diego

KTVU 2 Bay Area

Save California Solar Coalition Statement on CPUC Net Metering Proposed Decision

“​​CPUC proposed a giveaway to investor-owned utilities that would boost utility profits at the expense of energy consumers, family-supporting jobs, and California’s clean energy future.” 

Sacramento, CA— Today, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) released a proposed decision on net metering, the policy that is responsible for the growth of solar in California by making the state’s most abundant source of renewable energy affordable for consumers of all types. 

The CPUC proposal would add a $57 per month solar penalty fee for the average residential solar system. A $15 per month credit for the first 10 years would only partially offset the fee, but California would still have the highest solar penalty fees in the country. Low-income ratepayers and commercial customers would not pay the monthly fee. In addition, the commission proposed slashing export credits to approximately 5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) on all solar users, including schools and churches. This is an 80% reduction from the 20-30 cents per kWh credited today for residential customers. Further, the commission reduced the protections for existing solar customers from the previously established 20-year grandfathering, down to 15 years. 

The Save CA Solar coalition, which includes more than 600 diverse organizations, issued the following statement on today on the CPUC proposed decision: 

Despite the overwhelming popularity of rooftop solar in California and more than 120,000 public comments submitted in support of net metering, the CPUC proposed a giveaway to investor-owned utilities that would boost utility profits at the expense of energy consumers, family-supporting jobs, and California’s clean energy future. 

Solar advocates around the state are disappointed the CPUC fell for the utility profit grab by proposing the highest solar penalty fees in the nation and drastically reducing the credit solar consumers receive for selling the excess energy they produce to their neighbors. 

The fight is not over for solar advocates. Consumers, affordable housing advocates, faith leaders, environmentalists, conservationists, climate activists, and solar workers and small businesses will continue calling on the CPUC and Governor Newsom to stop the utility profit grab and keep solar growing in California.   

The CPUC will hold a final vote on the future of net metering following a 25-day public comment period on the proposed decision and alternative proposals. The proposed changes to net metering would go into effect this Spring. 

Members of the Save California Solar coalition weighed in on the CPUC proposed decision: 

“California is on a path to 100% renewable energy, and that path requires a sustained commitment to growing rooftop solar. Instead the CPUC is proposing to put a drag on our transition away from fossil fuels. State regulators calculate that to get to 100% clean energy, California needs at least 28 gigawatts (GW) of customer-sited solar by 2045; that’s nearly three times as much as we have today. The momentum that rooftop solar has now would help us reach our goal – but to gut net metering is to gut that momentum. The CPUC needs to put California’s climate change efforts first, ahead of the financial interests of the big utilities.” 

– Laura Deehan, State Director at Environment California Research & Policy Center. 

“It is a story as old as this country: a new technology is developed, programs and policies are offered to help consumers to adopt the technology and bring down the costs over time, and just when people in Black and brown communities are beginning to be able to afford the technology and benefit from it – the programs and policies are often taken away. That is exactly what the CPUC did in their proposed decision. By accepting the utility profit grab, the CPUC would take California back to a time when solar was a luxury for the wealthy and out of reach for our communities.” 

– Pastor Pastor William D. Smart, Jr., President and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California

“Our diverse, grassroots coalition is disappointed in the CPUC’s proposed decision, but we are even more determined to keep up the fight to make sure California stays a solar state. In the coming weeks solar supporters will make our voices heard in creative ways online and in person so Governor Newsom understands just how unpopular the utility profit grab is among voters.” 

– Dave Rosenfeld, Director of the Solar Rights Alliance 

“This is a clean energy and jobs disaster. With this proposal, California would abandon its long-held position as a clean energy leader, threatening the jobs of tens of thousands of hard working men and women who provide clean, reliable energy for millions of consumers today. Governor Newsom needs to clean this mess up and get California back on track as a solar leader.”

– Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of California Solar & Storage Association

“This is really a debate between energy democracy vs. energy monopoly. The big utilities want to protect their control over energy delivery to protect their billions in profit. The environmental justice community wants energy equity where people are free to generate and distribute their own energy in ways that are cleaner and more affordable.” 

– Esperanza Vielma, Executive Director, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water

###

About Save California Solar

Save California Solar is a coalition founded by the Solar Rights Alliance, California's association of solar users, to help ensure that rooftop solar continues to grow and benefit every Californian. Learn more at www.savecasolar.org. 

Media Contact:

Jacob Hay | jhay@wearerally.com | (310) 855-2640

Solar Supporters Deliver 120,000+ Public Comments Urging Governor and CPUC to Save CA Solar from Utility “Profit Grab”

Overwhelming grassroots support grows as 600+ diverse organizations join coalition ahead of expected CPUC decision on future of solar in California

Sacramento, CA—Hundreds of solar supporters, including consumers, affordable housing advocates, faith leaders, environmentalists, conservationists, and climate activists joined together for a rally at the California State Capitol building to deliver more than 120,000 public comments to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Governor Gavin Newsom, calling on them to save rooftop solar and stop investor-owned utility proposals to make solar unaffordable in the state.  

In addition to the public comment delivery, solar supporters also put up a 30-foot inflatable “utility profit grab man” on the Capitol steps and staged a “human billboard” message covering the Capitol lawn that says “Gov: 100,000+ Say Stop Utility Profit Grab. Save California Solar.”  

“This is where the rubber hits the road on blackouts, rising electricity bills and air pollution,” said Solar Rights Alliance Director Dave Rosenfeld, “The correct path is to help millions more working and middle class people get solar so we can keep up our progress and reject the utility profit grab that threatens to take us backwards.” 

The groundswell of public support for solar comes ahead of an expected proposed decision in the coming days by the CPUC on the future of “net metering.” Net metering is the state policy that makes rooftop solar more affordable for consumers of all types by compensating them for the excess energy they produce and share with their neighbors and protecting them from discriminatory fees. Rooftop solar is growing fastest in working- and middle-class neighborhoods because of successful policies like net energy metering.

“The best way to ensure a cleaner and more affordable energy future for our communities is by generating our energy from solar panels on our homes, churches, small businesses, and schools,” said Green the Church Executive Director Pastor Ambrose Carroll, “We have a moral responsibility to future generations to expand rooftop solar access by preserving net metering for working families, not adding fees that only profit the big utilities.”

PG&E and other big utilities want to change the rules in their favor in order to eliminate a growing competitor, keep consumers stuck in utility monopolies, and maintain the need for costly and often dangerous transmission lines that are a key driver of utility profits and ratepayer costs. Proposals submitted by the utilities and other solar opponents would drastically reduce the credit solar consumers receive and add expensive monthly solar penalty fees to their energy bills. 

“This is really a debate between energy democracy vs. energy monopoly. The big utilities want to protect their control over energy delivery to protect their billions in profit,” said Environmental Justice Coalition for Water Executive Director Esperanza Vielma, “The environmental justice community wants energy equity where people are free to generate and distribute energy their own energy in ways that are cleaner and more affordable.” 

If utilities get their way, solar will become unaffordable for most consumers, costing thousands of solar jobs, making California more vulnerable to fires and blackouts, and derailing California’s clean energy progress needed to fight climate change. By making the transition to clean energy slower and more expensive, the utility profit grab would cost the state tens of billions over time and each ratepayer $295 a year. 

“California risks losing more than 50,000 jobs and 1,500 small businesses if the state turns the lights out on rooftop solar,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of the California Solar & Storage Association. “Governor Newsom and the CPUC should not reward big utilities like PG&E while at the same time killing jobs, hurting regular consumers, and derailing California’s climate change efforts. We need to keep California a solar state.” 

“Rooftop solar needs to continue to grow quickly for California to reach its clean energy goals,” said Laura Deehan, State Director at Environment California Research & Policy Center. “Governor Newsom has the golden opportunity to help California reach its climate goals, keep the lights on and protect our state’s precious open spaces. Over 120,000 Californians agree: Governor Newsom needs to stand up to the state’s investor-owned utilities and keep rooftop solar within reach for California families and businesses.” 

To date, more than 600 diverse organizations endorsed protecting net metering and championing rooftop solar, making the Save California Solar coalition one of the largest in the state’s history of clean energy battles underscoring the inflection point in California as the state struggles to maintain its leadership against a still powerful fossil fuel lobby. 

Additional quotes from today’s rally: 

“To ensure the transition to a clean energy economy benefits our communities, we need net energy metering in combination with strong energy policies that allow decision-making and ownership of energy resources to stay in the community rather than in remote corporate boardrooms,” said People Power Solar Cooperative Co-Founder and CEO Crystal Huang, “Limitations to net energy metering will hurt our ability to create opportunities for our communities to share wealth and activate the transition to a regenerative energy economy.”

“The CADEM Renters Council calls on Governor Newsom to make rooftop solar more affordable for millions of working and middle class people, and reject proposals to make it less affordable,” said Monica Madrid of the CA Dem Renters Caucus, “No one should have to choose between paying their rent and paying their utility bills.”

“​​The Governor and the CPUC list three legs to ensuring reliability in our energy supply: rooftop solar, investor-owned utility infrastructure and energy efficiency,” said Berkeley City Councilmember Kate Harrison, “Destroying incentives for rooftop solar will topple this three-legged stool and threaten our energy future.”

###

About Save California Solar

Save California Solar is a coalition founded by the Solar Rights Alliance, California's association of solar users, to help ensure that rooftop solar continues to grow and benefit every Californian. Learn more at www.savecasolar.org. 

Sonoma county adopts automated permitting tool to lower the cost of installing solar

SANTA ROSA, CA – This week, Sonoma County became the first county in California to launch SolarAPP+, an automated application for permitting new residential rooftop solar and storage systems. SolarAPP+ will lower costs and expedite solar installations, encouraging property owners to invest in generating renewable and sustainable energy.

Lowering the cost and increasing the speed of rooftop solar installation will have a significant impact on a system’s cost.  The installation currently costs twice as much in the United States as in countries such as Australia or Germany, despite similar wages and equipment costs. The difference is caused in part due to installation costs like interest on home equity loans and other costs incurred while waiting for applications to be processed. For a solar customer, these added expenses can amount to as much as $5,000 for a typical residential solar system.

SolarAPP+ helps governments and providers cut rooftop solar permitting costs. Developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, SolarAPP+ provides a web-based portal that streamlines and automates permit reviews. The app easily integrates into existing local government permitting software and is free for local jurisdictions.

“The launch of SolarAPP+ is not just a win for the thousands of Sonoma County residents who have thought about getting rooftop solar but have been concerned about the soft costs involved,” said Lynda Hopkins, Chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. “It is also a win for our ability to meet the North Bay's climate adaptation and resiliency needs and generate thousands of good local jobs.”

The move to make solar more affordable to all communities was applauded by state leaders as an important step in the local and national fight against climate change.

“I congratulate Sonoma County for leading the way on critical resiliency initiatives like SolarAPP+ in the wake of the climate crisis we face,” said state Sen. Mark McGuire, D-Healdsburg, who chairs the Senate Government and Finance Committee. “This year I was pleased to support a climate budgetary package that included $20 million to streamline local solar and storage permitting, which will allow more Californians to make their homes climate-resilient and create thousands of good-paying jobs.”

“Rooftop solar and battery storage systems not only save money to customers but can save lives in an emergency power shutoff situation,” said state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, who serves on the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications and Joint Committee for Emergency Management. “With the launch of SolarAPP+, Sonoma County is poised to lead the way in solar and storage adoption, and I look forward to other North Bay jurisdictions following its lead.”

The number of SolarAPP+ adopters is projected to dramatically expand in the coming year on the heels of the California state budget, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on July 13, including $20 million for technical assistance targeted for local jurisdictions planning to adopt expedited permitting software such as SolarAPP+.

For more information please visit https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/Permit-Sonoma/

An S.O.S. in the Sand – Governor: More Solar, Not Oil

Near the Huntington Beach oil spill, activists scribe a giant S.O.S. in the sand, imploring Governor Newsom to keep solar energy growing

Huntington Beach, CA— Before the tides rushed in to erase their work, activists moved quickly to scribe a 300-foot long S.O.S in the sand, urging Governor Gavin Newsom to choose solar energy over oil and other forms of fossil fuels. The action, orchestrated by a grassroots-led coalition called Save California Solar, reflects the growing sense of urgency in California and around the globe for governments to take immediate action to address global warming and reduce air pollution by doubling down on clean energy such as solar panels on roofs. 

Event photos and videos are available here.  

“The tides are coming in, and if we’re not careful, they will wash away our ability to stop climate change,” said Cailey Underhill, Field Organizer with the Solar Rights Alliance. “Governor Newsom and other leaders must make certain that California increases investments in solar energy. We need more solar energy now, not more oil spills.” 

“We hope Governor Newsom sees our S.O.S. and takes action to ‘save our solar’ and ‘save our shore,’” said Carensi Sansores, student and Save California Solar volunteer. “Denouncing the recent spill was appropriate, but it doesn’t mean a thing if our leaders put the kibosh on the state’s growing rooftop solar market. We need to heavily invest in the cleaner path, not just criticize dirty oil.” 

At the center of the action on the shores of Huntington Beach, where an estimated 25,000 gallons of oil spilled in early October, is a major fight between those who want clean air and the utility industry. At stake is the future of California’s rooftop solar market, one of the world’s largest clean energy markets. Utilities, threatened by consumers’ ability to generate their own energy from the sun and store it in batteries, are lobbying the Newsom administration to put the brakes on rooftop solar installations. They are proposing to charge consumers a new solar penalty fee and dramatically reduce the credit solar users get when their solar panels ‘spill’ surplus power onto the grid. 

The changes would come by way of modifications to a popular program called Net Energy Metering, which currently allows homes, schools, and businesses to generate their own energy from the sun and share surplus power with their neighbors. Regulators at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will decide in the next few weeks the future of Net Metering, and with it the future of California’s world-renowned rooftop solar market. 

“When you drill, you spill, but with rooftop solar a spill is simply a sunny day with more than enough clean energy to power our homes and cars,” said Ayn Craciun, OC Policy Advocate with the Climate Action Campaign. “Governor Newsom should do everything he can to make rooftop solar more affordable to more people and not allow the utilities to block consumer access to our most abundant clean energy resource.”

According to the California Solar and Storage Association, it takes just four rooftop solar systems to offset the 25,000 gallons of oil spilled onto local beaches in October. California currently has over a million rooftop solar systems covering roughly one in ten buildings. Combined, these systems offset twice as much energy contained in the 25,000 gallons of oil in just one hour. California’s rooftop solar market is one of the largest and most powerful clean energy markets in the world adding up to ten nuclear power plants worth of clean energy, with plenty of room to keep growing. 

“We’ve only just begun building our clean energy future,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA). “The power of the sun is limitless if our political leaders stand up to the utilities and fight for the right of consumers to be part of the solution.” 

The Save California Solar coalition is urging the public to submit a comment to the CPUC and the governor via its website, www.savecaliforniasolar.org. A proposed decision is expected on or before December 10. 

###

About Save California Solar 

Save California Solar is a coalition founded by the Solar Rights Alliance, California's association of solar users, to help ensure that rooftop solar continues to grow and benefit every Californian. Learn more at www.savecaliforniasolar.org.

Simi Valley Adopts Automated Permitting Tool to Dramatically Lower Cost of Installing Solar

Simi Valley joins a growing number of cities and counties to adopt SolarAPP+ for their residents and communities

Simi Valley, CA – This week the City of Simi Valley became the third municipality in California - and one of the first jurisdictions in the nation -  to formally launch SolarAPP+, an automated application to speed up and error-proof the process for permitting new residential rooftop solar and storage systems. This plan will not only expedite but also lower costs for solar installation.

To date, installing rooftop solar is about twice as expensive in the United States as it is in such country as Australia or Germany -- despite similar wages and equipment costs. This difference is caused by the “soft costs” associated with residential solar installations, which includes paying for a local building department permit. For a solar customer, these added expenses can amount to as much as $1 per watt of the installation, or $5,000 for a typical residential solar system. 

The SolarAPP+ program offers an integral way to cut permitting costs. Developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy and in the public interest, SolarAPP+ provides a web-based portal that streamlines and automates permit reviews, which makes it easy to integrate into existing local government permitting software and is free for local jurisdictions to adopt. A recent report by SPUR, a California-based think tank, found that the nationwide deployment of solar permitting tools like SolarAPP+ will lead to $7.5 billion in soft cost savings, $111 million in increased annual permit fee revenue for cities and counties, a three-fold increase in solar installations critical to meeting California’s clean energy targets, and the generation 780,000 jobs in the solar industry.

“SolarAPP+ will be a win-win for Simi Valley residents and our staff,” said Simi Valley Mayor Keith Mashburn. “By allowing our residents to go solar more efficiently, it will free up staff to focus on other permitting areas.”

The number of SolarAPP+ adopters is projected to dramatically expand in the coming year on the heels of the California state budget, signed by Governor Newsom on July 13, including $20 million for technical assistance targeted for local jurisdictions planning to adopt expedited permitting software such as SolarAPP+.

The move to make solar more affordable to all communities was applauded by state leaders as an important step in the local and national fight against climate change. 

“I was excited to help craft a climate budgetary package that included $20 million to streamline local solar and storage permitting, which will allow more Californians to make their homes climate-resilient and supports thousands of good-paying jobs," said Senator Henry Stern (D-Calabasas), who serves on the Senate Budget, Environmental Quality, Judiciary, and Energy, Utilities, and Communications and chairs the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management. “I applaud Simi Valley for leading the way in answering a national call to adopt more rooftop solar and storage, faster.”

The SolarAPP+ program offers an integral way to cut permitting costs. Developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, SolarAPP+ provides a web-based portal that streamlines and automates permit reviews, making it easier to integrate into existing local government permitting software. NREL introduced SolarAPP+ in late 2020 and, since then, has rapidly expanded the program’s capabilities.

Simi Valley joins the Southern California cities of Menifee, which was the fifth local jurisdiction in the nation to deploy SolarAPP+ (July 2021), and Beaumont, which is poised to commence piloting SolarAPP+.

“Streamlining rooftop solar can be a game changer for California’s move to 100% clean energy and for tens of thousands of solar installers around the state.” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director at the California Solar and Storage Association, an organization representing hundreds of contractors who build more than 430 rooftop solar systems every day in California. “Already, rooftop solar is growing fastest in low- and working-class communities and by lowering costs further, we can put solar in the hands of more people. Growing rooftop solar is extremely popular in our state, and it is encouraging to see so many local leaders eager to make solar more accessible to their constituents and maintain California’s commitment as a solar state.” 

The Biggest Battery in the World is Hanging on the Garage Wall

Consumers Looking for Climate Solutions and Energy Reliability Amidst Fires and Blackouts Turn to Battery Storage

Out of step with consumers, energy needs and climate change goals, California regulators consider utility industry proposals that would slow California’s globally significant solar-charged battery market

Sacramento, CA—A new study released today by the California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA) today showed California consumers added 300 megawatts (MW) of battery storage capacity since August 2020 as residents and businesses prepare against an unreliable energy grid and seek ways to reduce air pollution locally. More than 32,000 California consumers added over 20 MW of battery storage per month over the past year, doubling the number of systems and increasing the distributed energy storage market 70%.

In the aggregate, distributed battery storage capacity is larger than any single utility-scale battery facility. By comparison, a recent expansion at California’s Monterey County Moss Landing facility brought its total capacity to 400 megawatts. News reports declared it the largest battery in the world. Yet, that system is short of California’s distributed battery storage capacity which now stands at 721 MW.  

The market for distributed batteries is diverse, involving more than 62,000 installations at homes and businesses throughout the state, including targeted efforts in environmental justice communities hit hard by rolling blackouts. California consumers prefer to charge their batteries with solar photovoltaic modules located on the same property, with an estimated 70% of the battery inventory solar charged (link to memo). 

“In the face of dangerous fires and stressful blackouts, consumers are taking matters into their own hands rather than trusting big utilities like PG&E to look out for them,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of CALSSA. “Consumers can either choose fossil fuel backup generators or they can choose pollution-free and more reliable solar charged batteries, and an increasing number of consumers are looking to the sun for their energy solutions. This is a smart move for the individual that also ends up benefiting everyone by taking pressure off the grid and helping to make it more climate resilient.” 

More consumers are turning to battery storage, paired with rooftop solar, as their best defense against an unsafe and unreliable energy grid. Battery storage is considered by many to be a superior energy reliability strategy compared to diesel fuel generators which are loud, expensive to operate, and contribute to pollution and climate change-causing emissions. 

In addition, the availability of tens of thousands of individual batteries also provides greater reliability. If one battery malfunctions or goes down, the rest of the batteries are unaffected and remain online. This is not the case with utility-scale battery systems where the entire facility is taken offline when something goes wrong with even one small unit within, as has happened recently at the Moss Landing facility. 

“I live in an area frequently hit by power shut offs,” said Marquis Smith, a resident of American Canyon in Napa County. “Thanks to my solar and battery system, I’m known in the neighborhood as the guy with juice. I often toss an extension cord over the fence to help my neighbors get a charge during frequent blackouts.” 

Another season of blackouts and devastating fires reminds us not only of the need to curb the impacts of climate change, but also the importance of developing an energy grid that is safe, reliable, and resilient. 

Rooftop solar and battery storage are ready to be part of the solution. During the last year’s heatwave in August 2020, California’s energy regulators called upon the solar and storage industry to work with customers to voluntarily modify charging and discharging of their batteries in line with the grid’s greatest needs. Many customers complied, without compensation, to help save the day as highlighted in a joint letter to Governor Newsom. Yet, despite this, California’s investor-owned utilities are lobbying the state agency that regulates them, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), to make solar charged batteries more expensive. A move that would dramatically shrink the market. 

“Our government leaders should be doing more to help the average person invest in solar and batteries to achieve our clean energy goals and build a safer, more reliable electric grid,” said Del Chiaro. “That is why it is dumbfounding to see the California Public Utilities Commission considering proposals from big utilities that would make solar prohibitively expensive and halt our promising clean energy growth in the process.” 

The CPUC is moving towards a critical decision that will determine whether rooftop solar, along with battery storage, 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 solar-charged batteries more affordable for everyday consumers by blocking discriminatory fees and compensating people for the excess energy they produce and share with their neighbors, including energy from batteries that can be discharged in the evening. 

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. Net metering can also drive the adoption of solar paired with energy storage if properly structured to create economies of scale and a glide path to growth. Proposals submitted by California’s investor-owned utilities would gut the market for solar as well as solar charged batteries 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. 

A draft decision from the presiding judge at the CPUC is expected in early December.

CSLB Agrees to Stay Enforcement of Restrictions on Solar Contractors

Thanks to CALSSA lawsuit and advocacy efforts solar contractors may continue to install solar + storage for now

San Francisco – Yesterday the Attorney General of California filed in San Francisco Superior Court a written stipulation agreeing to voluntarily stay enforcement of the Contractor State License Board (CSLB)’s July 27 decision limiting the ability for California’s solar contractors (C-46) to install solar paired with energy storage projects. As a result, C-46 solar contractors may continue to install solar and storage systems throughout California on and after November 1, 2021. 

The decision also means that the work of a C-46 contractor installing stand-alone solar or solar paired storage systems may continue to be done through the contractor’s existing trained and experienced solar workforce, and not be limited to hiring Certified Electricians, as required by the CSLB’s July 27 decision. CALSSA contends that there is a severe shortage of Certified Electricians and that they do not necessarily bring public safety benefits compared to the existing specialized solar workforce. The CSLB upheld the existing practice of allowing General A and General B license holders to continue installing solar and solar paired storage systems without using Certified Electricians as well. 

“This is a huge relief, albeit temporary, for hundreds of contractors up and down the state,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA). “The restrictions suddenly imposed this past summer were devastating and came at a time when consumers and the state as a whole desperately need more reliable clean energy, not less.” 

The stay agreed to by the CSLB stands until “this action is finally resolved, and the Petitioner-Plaintiff has agreed to withdraw its motion in exchange,” as stated in the stipulation. In other words, the stay on enforcement is good until the CSLB has promulgated new regulations or CALSSA has dropped its lawsuit. The bottom-line is contractors holding a C-46 solar license can continue to install solar and storage systems for at least 12-18 months, and possibly longer depending on the outcome and timeline of any new regulations. 

This decision to stay enforcement was made by a majority vote of the CSLB on Wednesday, September 29, and the written stipulation filed with the Court was negotiated between the Attorney General representing the CSLB and CALSSA’s litigation team at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger. It represents a major victory in defense of California’s solar and storage industry but not the end of the road. 

“Much more work lies ahead to ensure that any new regulations are clear, consistent, and not harmful to our industry,” said Del Chiaro. “We sincerely hope the CSLB will work with CALSSA going forward and not try to cut corners again.” 

With this written stipulation, CALSSA has agreed to put a hold on its Preliminary Injunction which would have sought a court-ordered stay on enforcement. The voluntary stay has the same effect and was arrived at sooner than a court would have. CALSSA has not put a hold on its lawsuit claiming that the decision and subsequent bulletins are illegal, underground regulations but is willing to enter settlement negotiations with the CSLB.

“We won’t put a hold on our lawsuit until the Board concludes a legal decision-making process for any future regulations and carefully considers what it means to our industry, especially small businesses which make up the majority of our contractor base,” said Del Chiaro. 

CALSSA points out that the threat of future licensing restrictions remains at the CSLB. The difference is, thanks to CALSSA’s litigation, any new restrictions would be arrived at through a rule-making process that adheres to the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Such a process typically takes 12-18 months and, according to the law, must be based in fact, be clear and consistent, and consider economic impacts especially to small businesses. If the new regulations don’t adhere to the APA, then CALSSA could decide to take CSLB once again to court. 

“It is CALSSA’s sincere hope that this will not be necessary,” clarified Del Chiaro. “But the solar and storage industry is here to stay. We might be small compared to our opponents in the fossil fuel industry, but we work together to speak with one voice.”  

In addition to the existential fight at the licensing board, CALSSA is also engaged in a consequential battle over the future of Net Energy Metering (NEM) at the California Public Utilities Commission. The same labor union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) that pushed the illegal regulations at the CSLB were also behind AB 1139, a bill that mirrored the NEM fight at the CPUC and would have devastated the rooftop solar industry harming existing and future consumers. The bill was shot down by the legislature in June but only after a grueling battle that required the engagement of thousands of voters, small businesses, and environmental groups. 

“This has been quite the year and we are not out of the woods yet,” reflected Del Chiaro. “Our hope is that Governor Newsom exerts some leadership and protects the current and future growth of distributed solar and energy storage in California.”

CALSSA Statement on Vibrant Clean Energy Report Showing Billions in Savings from Growth of Solar and Storage

Report reveals “by essentially halting the solar and storage market, the utility profit grab would cost California tens of billions over time and each ratepayer $295 a year.”

Sacramento, CA — The California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA) released the following statement on the new grid modeling report from Vibrant Clean Energy which showed 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:

The Vibrant Energy Report adds yet another benefit to the many positives that come with growing local solar and storage: big savings for everyone in California.

The report also reveals just how costly it would be if investor-owned utilities get their way at the California Public Utilities Commission as the agency considers adjustments to net metering, the program responsible for making solar affordable and growing in middle- and working-class neighborhoods. Proposals submitted by the big utilities would drastically reduce the credit solar consumers receive for the excess energy they produce and add a $65-90 monthly solar penalty fee to their energy bills. It’s an effort by utilities to eliminate a growing competitor in the energy market and secure a primary source of profits through the construction of long-distance transmission lines, which local solar helps reduce.

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.

California is and has always been a solar state. Utility proposals are out of step with the deep popularity of rooftop solar in the golden state. In addition to massive cost increases for California ratepayers, the utility profit grab would undermine California’s clean energy goals and take our station from leading the nation in expanding solar in working- and middle-class neighborhoods to a solar unfriendly state where clean energy is accessible only to the rich.

CALSSA Statement on Biden Administration’s Plan to Produce 45% of the Nation’s Energy from the Sun by 2050

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.

CALSSA Launches a $1 Million Defense Fund Campaign

Calls on solar leaders to pitch in for common goal of keeping the nation’s largest and most successful distributed generation market strong and growing

Sacramento, CA—Kicking off their largest fundraising campaign in history, the California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA) has announced a goal of raising one million dollars in September to defend California’s position as the country’s leading solar and storage market.

With California’s cornerstone clean energy policy, Net Energy Metering (NEM), under an unprecedented assault from some of the country’s biggest utility and natural gas companies, CALSSA has put together a robust plan that includes legal counsel, paid advertising, and petition gathering among many other activities to defend California’s distributed energy industry. However, this all comes with a hefty price tag, so the association is asking members and solar supporters from across the industry to pitch in to keep California’s solar and storage market alive.

“California’s world-renowned solar market is under siege by some of the country’s most powerful fossil fuel industry players,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar and Storage Association. “We can win but we need everyone to stand up and help us fight.”

Activities the association will invest in include generating 200,000 public comments, field organizing, paid media, and a full suite of top-of-the-line legal representation. Investor-owned utilities are pushing for monthly fees of on average $78 per solar household, reducing the credit consumers receive for surplus solar electricity sent back to the grid on summer days by 77% and making solar all but uneconomical for disadvantaged communities that are the most needing of reliable clean energy and storage as the state faces massive fires and power shut-offs. The California Public Utility Commission may rule on NEM by the end of the year, making the next several months critical for CALSSA’s efforts.

“One million dollars in one month may seem like a lot, but it’s a drop in the bucket to what is at stake for our companies and the jobs we support,” said Del Chiaro.

Companies wanting to contribute to CALSSA’s Solar & Storage Defense Fund can go here to make a donation or reach out to josh@calssa.org to discuss giving options.

California Sets First-in-Nation Requirements for Solar & Energy Storage; Outcomes of Decision Depend on Net Metering Rules Expected Later This Year

The California Energy Commission (CEC) today approved the 2022 California Energy Code, which sets the building standards for new construction. In a historic unanimous vote, California became the first state in the country to require builders to install solar and battery storage on new commercial buildings and high-rise multifamily buildings. The approved Energy Code also includes requirements for builders to design single-family homes so battery storage can be easily added to the already existing solar system in the future as well as incentives to eliminate natural gas from new buildings.

This decision intensifies the spotlight on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which holds the keys to whether these standards ever go into effect. Solar PV and energy storage, whether on homes or commercial properties, is directly dependent on net metering which sets the credit commercial and residential solar customers receive for the energy their panels deliver to the grid as well as provides protections from discriminatory fees placed on solar consumers by utilities. Utilities like PG&E are pushing the CPUC to make drastic changes to net metering which could subject the new building standards to revocation by making distributed clean energy technologies not cost effective for consumers.

“With the dire warnings by the world’s scientists about climate change as background, today’s vote is another historic first-in-the-nation move by California to literally build a cleaner energy future,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA), the state’s largest clean energy business association. “But we need the cooperation of the entire Newsom Administration to deliver solutions to consumers.”

The commercial mandate would accelerate the installation of solar and energy storage across the state. The mandate, which would add 280 MW of solar annually according to the Energy Commission’s estimates, combined with continued installations on existing structures would bring the total amount of commercial solar installed annually to over 600 MW – equivalent to the power produced by a typical natural gas power plant. The mandate also would add 400 MWh of batteries to commercial buildings, spurring the growth of the nascent energy storage market that is crucial for providing clean power in the evening and overnight. Combined, and assuming no radical changes to net metering, today’s decision could increase California’s solar market by roughly 22% and today’s behind-the-meter energy storage market many fold.

New features of the 2022 building standards 

1. Commercial and high-rise multifamily PV and storage requirement

   1. New construction of select building types (grocery stores, high-rise multifamily buildings, offices, financial institutions, retail stores, schools, warehouses, auditoriums, conventions centers, hotels, motels, medical offices, restaurants, and theaters) are expected to have PV and storage. Multi-tenant buildings in utility service territories without VNEM will be exempt. Buildings and units <5,000 square feet will be exempt from storage.

   2. The PV will be sized to meet a target of 60% of the building’s loads. The storage will be sized to reduce exports to 10%.

   3. Overall, the Energy Commission expects the standards to add 280 MW of PV to the grid annually, which will grow the commercial market by approximately 70 percent. The Commission also expects the standards to result in 100MW/400MWH of storage annually.

2. New single-family homes must be “battery-ready”

   1. New single-family homes must be wired so energy storage systems can easily be added later. To that end, the standards require a minimum 225-amp busbar, four backed-up circuit (two of which must be the refrigerator and bedroom receptacle outlet), and either a subpanel or split-bus main panel for those circuits.

3. Incentives for solar hot water

   1. As a result of the report commissioned by CALSSA on the cost-effectiveness and GHG reduction benefits of different water heating technologies, the standards have increased the amount of compliance credit for solar hot water.

   2. The standards put in place the new electrification baseline, requiring homes to electrify the water heating or space heating, or invest heavily in efficiency features. Homes built with solar hot water will receive more compliance credit than homes built with heat pump water heaters.

   3. Solar hot water is now a prescriptive compliance option for single-family homes.

4. Fixing the community solar program

   1. When the Commission created the new home PV mandate in the current standards, they allowed one path for compliance to be community solar. However, the community solar compliance option lacked guiderails, and as a result, SMUD created a predatory community solar program, that mostly notably effectively prevented homes enrolled in the community solar program from installing rooftop solar for 20 years. In the proposed new standards, community solar programs must allow homes to unenroll by installing rooftop solar.

   2. The proposed new standards make other adjustments to the community solar compliance option such as that the community solar project must be on a distribution circuit, though the Commission stopped short of making other changes we advocated for such as that the energy bill savings should be comparable to that of customer-sited solar.

Greening the Heat Supply: Solar Heat Worldwide 2021 highlights achievements of solar heating and cooling globally

In 2020, Germany was the world’s leading solar district heating market, while China saw the largest increase in the number of industrial solar heat systems added in a single country. This year’s edition of Solar Heat Worldwide is the first to highlight the top three countries for a variety of application areas. Published annually by the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme, the report has become a well-trusted source of solar thermal data and a go-to reference for international organisations such as REN21 and the International Renewable Energy Agency. The 2021 edition plus key messages are available for free on the IEA SHC website.

"Solar heating and cooling systems with 501 GWth were in operation at the end of 2020 and saved 43.8 million tons of oil and 141.3 million tons of CO2. The standout application is once again solar district heating plants and their important contribution in decarbonizing the heating sector. With Germany, Denmark and China leading the way and generating interest in other parts of the world," states Tomas Olejniczak, Chair of the IEA SHC Programme.

Solar Heat Worldwide contains multiple important chapters on the successful use of solar heat by different customer groups. The steadily growing, global PVT market is a special feature of this year’s report. The combination of solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Thermal (T) in one collector leads the trend towards hybrid solar heat solutions, experiencing a steady growth of 9 % annually on average from 2018 to 2020 and 8 % in the dominant European market. Tibet and Ghana are some of the new markets emerging outside of Europe.

Market Leaders

Solar thermal heating and cooling systems serve millions of residential, commercial, and industrial clients worldwide with a wide variety of technologies. Below are the top three countries for different market segments.

Growth Despite COVID-19

Despite the pandemic taking a heavy toll on most national economies in 2020, some large solar thermal markets grew due to increased policy support, like in Germany and the Netherlands. In Turkey and Brazil, demand for solar water heaters increased as homeowners spent more time at home and made improvements around the house.

Positive trend: Increasing sales in major solar thermal markets in 2020.
Source: Solar Heat Worldwide 2021

Number of Multi-MW Solar District Heating Systems Keeps Growing
The leading markets related to the total number of solar district heating systems in operation are Denmark (124 systems), Germany (43), Sweden (22), Austria (19), China (18), and Poland (8). This cost-effective way of greening the heat supply of neighborhoods, towns, and even cities sparks new interest in markets like France, Switzerland, Russia, and South Africa. 

This 3.5 MWth plant feeds heat into the district heating network of the Austrian town of Münzzuschlag with 8,500 inhabitants Photo: SOLID Solar Energy Systems

Targeted Energy Policies Drive Solar Heating Growth
Germany's solar thermal market confirms the impact that targeted energy policies can have. About 10 years ago, Germany was by far Europe's largest solar thermal market with 1.5 GWth of new capacity, but by 2019 it was hovering around 0.36 GWth of new capacity. But times have changed, and in 2020 Germany's solar thermal market increased by approximately 26 % compared to 2019 to around 650,000 m², corresponding to nearly 0.5 GWth of newly installed capacity. The dramatic increase in demand is largely due to the new federal subsidy for efficient buildings.

PV2heat (using PV to heat water) is a new take on hot water heating that is emerging in South Africa. These systems consist of PV modules directly connected to an electrical element that heats the water with DC power without the need for inverters. By the end of 2020, there were 11,700 PV2heat systems installed in South Africa.

Solar heat for industrial processes (SHIP) continues its global growth, with at least 74 plants added in 2020, increasing the world market to 891 projects in operation at year´s end with an overall installed collector area of 1.13 million m2. The SHIP plants are used for many applications, with the largest at an oil production plant in Oman (300 MWth), followed by a greenhouse application in Australia (36.6 MWth) and copper mine in Chile (27.5 MWth)

Solar cooling is trending toward hybrid solutions to improve efficiency and an investment advantage up to 40% to conventional solar cooling systems.

IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme is in a phase of strong expansion both in terms of widening the research topics and increasing regional coverage. The Programme is supported by 19 countries, the European Commission, and eight international organisations, among them the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) and the European Copper Institute (ECI) and the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres (GN-SEC). Together, they work on a wide range of topics, from innovative compact storage tank designs to solar cooling and the integration of large-scale solar fields into district heating and cooling networks.

For more information: IEA SHC Communications: Pam Murphy, communications@iea-shc.org

CA Counties and Cities Urged to Adopt SolarAPP+ as Biden Administration Launches New Cost Saving Platform

Solar advocates across California applauded the Biden Administration’s newly launched SolarAPP+ and urged county and city leaders to quickly adopt the breakthrough resource to help lower the cost for consumers to go solar.  

SolarAPP+ is an automated application to speed up and increase the accuracy of the process for permitting new residential rooftop solar and storage systems. The new consumer-friendly tool – identified by the Biden Administration as a priority and released today by Department of Energy Secretary Granholm – will not only expedite but also lower costs for solar and storage installation.

To date, installing rooftop solar is about twice as expensive in the United States as it is in such countries as Australia or Germany – despite similar wages and equipment costs. This difference is caused by the “soft costs” associated with residential solar installations, which includes paying for a local building department permit. For a solar customer, these added expenses can amount to as much as $1 per watt of the installation, or $5,000 for a typical residential solar system.

The SolarAPP+ program offers an integral way to cut permitting costs. Developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, SolarAPP+ provides a web-based portal that streamlines and automates permit reviews, making it easier to integrate into existing local government permitting software. 

NREL introduced SolarAPP+ in late 2020 and, since then, has rapidly expanded the program’s capabilities. In April 2021, Pleasant Hill became the first California city to adopt SolarAPP+, and several California cities and counties are on track to formally adopt it later this year.  The number of SolarAPP+ adopters is projected to dramatically expand in the coming year on the heels of the California state budget, signed by Governor Newsom on July 13, included $20 million for technical assistance targeted for local jurisdictions planning to adopt expedited permitting software such as SolarAPP+.

“The $20 million investment in the State’s budget will help us streamline the permitting process for residential rooftop solar and energy storage, allowing more Californians to access clean energy,” said Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who authored a bill this year to require California cities to adopt app-based solar permitting and who worked to obtain funding in the California budget to help cities implement. “This budget will help California achieve our climate goals more quickly and cost-effectively and allow more homeowners to participate in our clean energy future.”

"With a $20 million investment in automated solar permitting, California promises to save California homeowners up to $3 billion in permit-related costs over the coming decade. This is not only a win for our climate, but also our residents’ pocketbooks. It’s a model that all local jurisdictions should follow," said Assembly Budget Chair Phil Ting (D-San Francisco).

“SolarAPP+ is a much needed step forward to make the process of installing rooftop solar in California friction-free and consumer-friendly," said California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild. "With over one million rooftop solar energy systems, California is adding approximately 400 new rooftop solar systems a day, helping to make our energy system cleaner, more resilient and distributed.”

Jurisdictions across the state are already moving to implement SolarAPP+ and help local consumers save money. 

"When the City of San Jose became an early adopter of automated solar permitting, the volume of rooftop solar applications jumped six-fold," said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. "I am thrilled about the prospect of municipalities across the nation joining our efforts to utilize tools like SolarAPP+ to fight climate change and create renewable energy. 

"As the author of Senate Bill 100 which catalyzed the state's transition to a 100% renewable portfolio standard, making California the first in the nation to do so, I welcome the national launch of SolarAPP+," said Councilmember and former California Senate President pro tempore Kevin de Leon. "I believe this tool will stimulate the City of Los Angeles to expedite permitting and allow us to keep leading the way toward a Green New Deal locally, statewide, and nationally."

"As the first city in the nation to electrify new buildings, Berkeley takes its role as a climate leader very seriously," said Jesse Arreguin, Berkeley Mayor and President of the Association of Bay Area Government. "I am excited to bring SolarAPP+ to our community, as it is a vital tool for us to continue our city's and the larger Bay Area's work in combating climate change while generating thousands of good-paying local jobs."

For installers across the state, this streamlining will be a game changer. Local rooftop solar installers were quick to hail the launch of SolarAPP+.

“Using SolarApp+ should also help rein in the ‘soft costs’ of going solar, which could have a big impact on solar deployment. “Cost is one of the biggest barriers to going solar,” said Igor Tregub, senior policy advisor at the California Solar and Storage Association, an organization representing hundreds of contractors who build more than 430 rooftop solar systems every day in California. “Already, rooftop solar is growing fastest in low- and working-class communities and by lowering costs further, we can put solar in the hands of more people.” 

The local leadership is also being celebrated by the environmental community. 

“As California faces a worsening drought, more heatwaves and the prospect of catastrophic wildfires for yet another year, the need for cities and the state to take action on climate couldn’t be clearer,” said Laura Deehan, state director for Environment California. “We hope cities and counties all over California will help their residents go solar by automating the permitting process with SolarApp+.”

…………………….

The California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA) has advanced the common interest of the solar and storage industry for over 40 years, making California the most robust market in the U.S. The association is the state’s largest clean energy business group with over 600 member companies, primarily small businesses based in communities throughout the state, that manufacture, design, install, finance and provide other resources to the growing local solar and storage market in California. Learn more at www.calssa.org.

Environment California is dedicated to protecting our air, water and open spaces. We work to protect the places we love, advance the environmental values we share, and win real results for our environment. For more information, visit www.environmentcalifornia.org.

Diverse Coalition Defends Rooftop Solar Against Utility Profit Grab

After defeating AB 1139 in the legislature, the fight to defend consumer solar and keep clean energy growing continues against utility efforts to increase profits by making solar more expensive. 

30-foot-tall inflatable “Utility Profit Grab Man” visited CA Public Utility Commission Headquarters

San Francisco, CA—Clean energy advocates, environmental groups, solar consumers, and businesses—fresh off defeating AB 1139 in the state legislature—are fighting back against the continued big utility “profit grab” that aims to make rooftop solar more expensive, harm consumers, and slow down California’s clean energy progress. They joined together at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to call on state leaders to keep solar affordable and growing in California as the Newsom Administration considers changes to “net metering,” the state policy that defines how solar users send energy back to and interact with the electric grid. Following the event, supporters delivered more than 30,000 petitions against utility-proposed changes to net metering to CPUC’s headquarters.  

“Our coalition of solar consumers and clean energy activists did the unexpected and stopped a bill in Sacramento driven by big utilities and some of the state’s most powerful interests,” said Dave Rosenfeld, executive director of the Solar Rights Alliance. “Now as we turn our attention to this newest threat to affordable clean energy, the CPUC and Governor Newsom can expect to hear our voices in even greater volume.” 

Net metering is intended to put the benefits of rooftop solar in the hands of more people, and it’s doing just that. Hundreds of thousands of families, renters, businesses, schools, and others across California are saving money on their utility bills with rooftop solar. In fact, working and middle-class neighborhoods make up nearly 50% of today’s rooftop solar market. Rooftop solar is helping consumers of all types lower their energy bills and, when coupled with storage, is a consumer’s best defense against spiking energy costs and unpredictable power outages. Not only that, many of the state’s low-income solar programs rely on net metering to deliver bill savings to vulnerable populations. 

“What the big utilities are proposing would do nothing short of halting the rooftop solar industry in its tracks, just as our economy and clean energy needs demand we go forward,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar and Storage Association. California voters overwhelmingly support the growth of rooftop solar and oppose the push by investor-owned utilities to increase their own profits by making solar more expensive for everyone.”  

By undermining net metering, making solar more expensive for everyone and halting critical clean energy expansion, the utility profit grab is out of step with California’s long-standing environmental and clean energy goals and the growing need for a reliable energy supply in the face of wildfires and grid outage events. It would take California backward to a time when solar was only affordable for the wealthy, and reverse the rapid growth of solar currently happening everywhere and especially in middle- and working-class neighborhoods across the state. 

"California is in a climate emergency, with record shattering heat waves, drought and wildfires spreading across the state,” warned Laura Deehan, state director of Environment California. “It couldn’t be more clear: The devastating effects of global warming are here now. To face down this danger, we have to get to 100% renewable energy as fast as possible, and rooftop solar is one of our best tools to get there. With so much at stake, California gutting net metering would reverse our trajectory as a leader in solving global warming right when our leadership is needed most." 

As symbolized by the giant 30-foot-tall “Utility Profit Grab Man” stationed outside CPUC headquarters, the motive for big utilities is profits. PG&E and other utilities want to change the rules in their favor so they can profit off the energy created by solar consumers and eliminate a growing competitor in the energy market. 

"The real cost shift happening in California is the exorbitant sums of ratepayer money being stolen from local renewables to subsidize transmission lines — which mostly benefit the utilities, who make huge guaranteed profits from transmission spending,” explains Rosana Francescato of Clean Coalition. “Transmission costs are the fastest-growing component of electricity bills in California, and deploying more rooftop solar has been shown to mitigate these costs.”

A wide range of environmental groups and solar supporters joined the event and shared the critical role rooftop solar plays in realizing California’s clean energy goals. 

"As a national leader in building electrification and climate equity, the City of Berkeley is counting on the Governor and CPUC to make plentiful and affordable access to rooftop solar a priority," said Jesse Arreguin, Berkeley Mayor and President of the Association of Bay Area Governments. "This will ensure that our state continues to lead the nation in our shared climate action and equity goals."

At a time when many of California's 18 million tenants are just fighting to remain housed, investor-owned utilities are trying to drive up their rates if their building includes rooftop solar," said Mari Perez-Ruiz, Chair of the California Democratic Party Renters Council. "Renters deserve more rooftop solar, not more bailouts to PG&E, SoCal Gas, and Sempra."

“We need more solar where we live, local clean energy, local jobs, and local community resilience,” states Laura Neish, the 350 Bay Area executive director. “The CPUC and the utilities are not looking at roof-top solar correctly— not seeing its benefits and giving a fair value for those benefits including better air quality and health, better land use, affordability of electricity and resiliency.” 

“California gets that we have gone beyond a Climate Crisis to a Climate Emergency,” said Bill Allayaud, California director of government affairs for the Environmental Working Groups. “It is all hands on deck right now and inhibiting installation of rooftop solar by those who want to participate is the wrong move at this time. The PUC needs to pause and be certain that any move it makes is right for consumers and best for the environment.” 

Fully embracing rooftop solar is a no-brainer. With every new solar panel installed, we reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, keep pollution out of our communities and reduce carbon emissions,” said Jenn Engstrom, State Director of CALPIRG. “Rooftop solar benefits consumers too. Here in California, homes, schools and businesses that go solar reduce our overall need for grid investments today, while helping build the clean and resilient grid of the future.”

"Affordable and sustainable housing is a human right," said Paola Laverde, former Chair of the Berkeley Rent Board and a member of the Berkeley Tenants Union Steering Committee. "We call on the Governor and CPUC to make it more affordable - not less - for tenants to have rooftop solar powering their homes."  

CALSSA Statement on Consumer Protection

Consumer protection is our highest priority. Our industry has very little if not the trust of our customers. The ethical and reasonable conduct of our member companies forms the very foundation our Association. For decades, we have worked to promote best practices among our members as well as worked closely with state agencies tasked with the oversight of home improvement contracts, such as adding solar panels to a home, to make sure consumers are informed and protected. We remain steadfast in our commitment to this work today. CALSSA offers a consumer hotline to mediate customer complaints efficiently and effectively. We encourage all consumers to avail themselves of this service. CALSSA also has a strict Member Code of Ethics and Consumer Protection Rules expected of every member in good standing.

Schools, Climate and Equity Leaders, Consumers, Small Businesses Rally Against Utility “Profit Grab"

Grassroots rally highlighted investor-owned utility efforts to increase profits by stopping the growth of solar in working- and middle-class neighborhoods.

Sacramento, CA — Today, hundreds of solar consumers including schools and renters, small businesses, community organizers, and environmental organizations gathered on the grounds and streets around the California Capitol building wearing masks and waiving “No on AB 1139” signs in protest of a bill that would make rooftop solar more expensive in the state, harming consumers. Meanwhile, encircling the Capitol grounds, solar work trucks blew their horns to draw attention to the small solar contracting businesses that would be harmed by the bill.

Assembly Bill 1139, by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, currently under consideration in the state legislature, pushes the profitable investor-owned utility plan to add new fees on all rooftop solar consumers, including schools, non-profit affordable housing, and local governments, and reduce the credit they receive for excess energy sent back to the grid. AB 1139 also threatens to change the rules on existing solar users after the state encouraged their rooftop solar investment. This bill would harm all solar users, particularly 150,000 existing low-income solar homeowners and an estimated 300,000 renters at affordable housing projects with solar. At the same time, utilities are pushing the CA Public Utilities Commission to add similar fees and reduce credits for solar consumers. 

By making solar more expensive for everyone and halting critical clean energy expansion, the utility profit grab is out of step with California’s long-standing environmental and energy goals and especially out of place given the repeated wildfires and grid outage events. It would take California backwards to a time when solar was only affordable for the wealthy, and reverse the rapid growth of solar currently happening in middle and working class neighborhoods across the state. 

“My priority is energy democracy in communities of concern but when I flew up to Sacramento yesterday I saw solar roofs everywhere- on schools, churches, farms - thousands of people who made significant investments in clean energy who will face a tsunami of harm from AB 1139,” said Eddie Price of San Diego Urban Sustainability Coalition. 

The motive is profits. PG&E and other big utilities want to change the rules in their favor so they can profit off the energy created by solar consumers and eliminate a growing competitor in the energy market. 

“The big utilities cannot stand the fact that they do not profit when consumers put solar on their roof,” says Dave Rosenfeld, executive director of the Solar Rights Alliance. “They want to change net metering rules in their favor and add new fees to make solar more expensive, all so they can double-dip and make money off of energy they do not even produce. This threatens to harm early adopters of clean energy and put solar out of reach for middle and working class families going forward.”

Big utilities want their profit grab to stay under the radar. But, consumers are fighting back. Today, solar consumers gathered together for a lively event, including a Capitol rally with over 150 socially distanced participants, a loud solar work truck caravan around the Capitol grounds, oversized banners and a 30 foot tall inflatable “utility profit grab monopoly man”.  

"The real benefit to all ratepayers is not having to build 25 large natural gas power plants because of the 10 gigawatts produced by rooftop solar,” said Berkeley City Councilmember Kate Harrison. “Early adoption of rooftop solar also brought down the cost of solar for everyone and helped make this industry a reality. Equity for ratepayers is critical; that equity can be achieved by the utilities and the state by expanding eligibility programs for low-income customers not by making solar more expensive."

“AB 1139 would effectively end school solar energy projects that allow schools to continue to educate students through disruptions caused by rolling blackouts and public safety power shutoffs,” said Nancy Chaires Espinoza of Schools Energy Coalition. “These projects are also essential to our ability to continue to operate the meal programs on which our most vulnerable children rely.”

"California is in a drought emergency and wildfires are already burning in Los Angeles,” warned Laura Deehan, state director of Environment California. “It couldn’t be more clear: The devastating effects of global warming are here now. To face down this danger, we have to get to 100% renewable energy as fast as possible, and rooftop solar is one of the best tools to get us there. With so much at stake, AB 1139 is the wrong answer. It would reverse California's momentum as a leader in solving global warming at the worst possible time." 

Additional solar consumers and advocates shared how rooftop solar makes clean energy accessible and react to big utilities’ profit grab: 

"At a time when many of California's 18 million tenants are just fighting to remain housed, investor-owned utilities are trying to drive up their rates if their building includes rooftop solar," said Monica Madrid, Board Member of the California Democratic Party Renters Council. "AB 1139 is a bad deal for all Californians - and especially for renters." 

"In my working class Sacramento neighborhood, we empower our hard working neighbors to have more control over their destiny, to create self-sufficiency, and pass it on to future generations," said Fatima Malik of the Del Paso Heights Growers' Alliance, "The government's job is to help foster more community self-reliance, not carry out the monopoly utilities' bidding and crush community empowerment solutions like rooftop solar. Lawmakers that truly care about equity for working people must defeat AB 1139."

“Small solar businesses are struggling through the Covid-19 pandemic and this bill would cause further hardship leading to massive layoffs and business shutdowns,” said Brad Heavner, policy director of the California Solar & Storage Association. “Over 65,000  jobs are threatened so that PG&E can make more money while causing more wildfires and blackouts.”  

Today’s event was hosted by the Solar Rights Alliance and the California Solar & Storage Association, as part of the Save California Solar coalition. For more information about the fight to save rooftop solar in California click here. For more information on AB 1139 click here. A recording from today’s live-streamed event is available at CALSSA’s Facebook page.

---

About the Solar Rights Alliance 
Solar Rights Alliance is the nonprofit association of California solar users. We believe everyone has the right to make energy from the sun without unreasonable interference by the utilities. We keep track of what politicians, regulators and utilities are up to, and alert the public when there is a threat to rooftop solar, or an opportunity to help more Californians access rooftop solar. Learn more at www.solarrights.org.

About CALSSA 
The California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA) has advanced the common interest of the solar and storage industry for over 40 years, making California the most robust market in the U.S. The association is the state’s largest clean energy business group with over 600 member companies, primarily small businesses based in communities throughout the state, that manufacture, design, install, finance and provide other resources to the growing local solar and storage market in California. Learn more at calssa.org.

As Summer Approaches, California Utility Campaign Against Consumer Access to Solar, Batteries Heats Up

Jonathan Scott of “Power Trip” and Former Kern County Oil Worker Turned Solar Worker to Testify before Committee in Defense of Consumer Solar and Storage

The recent spike in temperatures is a reminder that summer is almost here, and, along with it, the threat of blackouts and wildfires. Yet, solutions to California’s energy safety and reliability problems, such as rooftop solar panels and garage batteries, are facing increasing threats as investor-owned utilities and their allies put political pressure on the California state legislature to block consumer choice and protect the utilities' monopoly over expanding electricity markets.

“Policy makers looking to prevent more blackouts and wildfires have two polar opposite bills to vote on tomorrow,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director of the California Solar & Storage Association. “One bill is a killer of consumer choice, energy reliability, jobs, and climate change solutions, and the other is a public-interest backed solution that ushers in a future of advanced clean energy technologies to help keep the lights on. Were it not for the undue influence of utilities, this would be a straight-forward vote.”

Two bills, AB 1139 (Gonzalez) and AB 427 (Bauer Kahan) will face off in tomorrow’s Assembly Utilities & Energy Committee chaired by Pasadena Democrat, Assembly member Chris Holden.

The utility-backed bill, AB 1139, would cripple the consumer solar and storage market by gutting a popular and effective policy called “net metering.” The bill would retroactively harm those who have already gone solar, including low-income and working-class solar users who are nearing 50% of the annual market, by slapping $50-86 monthly solar fees and lowering the financial value of the rooftop solar energy exported to the grid by more than 80%.  

“The utilities and their allies are trying to justify AB 1139 with flat out lies about rooftop solar,” said Del Chiaro. "Rooftop solar and battery storage help reduce energy bills for everyone by lowering infrastructure costs, which cuts into utility profits and underscore what this fight is really all about." 

Among those testifying against AB 1139 are Jonathan Scott who produced the documentary Power Trip about how utilities across the country are blocking rooftop solar from getting into the hands of everyday consumers; and Troy Carroll, a Kern County native who turned from oil industry worker to solar industry worker and will address the need to keep clean energy jobs growing in California.

The other bill, AB 427, would grow California’s consumer solar and storage market by creating virtual power plants out of the state’s growing number of small-scale solar and energy storage systems, linking together with the push of a button tens of thousands of solar-charged batteries within minutes of an identified grid-need such as what happened on August 15, 2020 when California found itself without enough electricity to power air conditioners. This bill is opposed by California’s utilities.

Both bills will be voted on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 in the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee hearing that begins at 1:30. Live broadcast available.