California residents are increasingly pairing battery storage with solar installations, according to the latest preliminary data in our Monthly Electric Power Industry Report. The share of new residential solar photovoltaic systems paired with batteries has increased since we began collecting data in October 2023. In April 2024, more than 50% of … [continued]
In December of 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to alter the rules regarding net metering for customers with rooftop solar systems. Net metering requires utility companies to pay customers for the excess energy those solar arrays send back to the grid. It is the thing that drove … [continued]
The discussion about California’s grid, rooftop solar energy, and net metering goes on. Following up on the comments under this article and then this article as well as years of debate, research reports, lobbying, solar industry pushback, and a net metering update that seems to be in complete limbo, below … [continued]
We have some of the most informed readers in the world, but that doesn’t mean they agree on everything. In fact, sometimes they have feverish yet well informed debates that genuinely use logic (rather than ad hominem attacks and other logical fallacies) to discuss different technology or policy approaches. I … [continued]
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has just proposed significant changes to rooftop solar policies in California that are likely to stifle rooftop solar energy growth and hurt California’s plans to decarbonize quickly. Frankly, it’s a stunning step backwards. https://t.co/yxu0mZ7mpu pic.twitter.com/fGuYKVu3u3 — Ben Inskeep (@Ben_Inskeep) December 14, 2021 We will … [continued]
I recently wrote an article about the threat to rooftop solar net metering — and thus rooftop solar power growth — in California. Then, a few days later, one of our editors found and published “347 Organizations Sign Letter to Protect Rooftop Solar Power in California.” In response to the … [continued]
Influential grassroots organizations across the state and sectors come together in asking Governor Newsom and CPUC to prioritize rooftop solar and storage for a more equitable and resilient energy grid.
Last month, we published an article from a noteworthy, highly helpful and effective environmental nonprofit that basically argued that it was time to cut into (“reform”) solar net energy metering (NEM) in California. We quickly got some significant backlash. I had seen this argument made earlier in this year and … [continued]
You may remember the controversial and rude statement from California’s Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (District 80) from last year regarding Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, which specializes in both electric vehicles and home energy solutions that include rooftop solar. Recently, Gonzalez not only backed but amended AB 1139, which could … [continued]
California has more solar power installed than any other state — by far. It is also first in terms of percentage of the state’s electricity coming from solar, and third for solar power capacity per capita. Some are questioning if there’s too much solar power on the grid and joining … [continued]
