California
Last updated on January 25, 2012
Help us defend California net metering and keep rooftop solar savings and job growth on track!
The Golden State is well on its way to having the most robust and diverse solar market in the world.
For energy customers who want to go solar: The California Solar Initiative rebate program is in place and working well to deploy a million solar energy systems on rooftops throughout the state. Through a wonky sounding but very important policy called “net metering” California homes and businesses that go solar can reduce their electricity bills. Together, these programs have made California a real solar success story:
- California has installed more than 1,000 MW of rooftop solar capacity – that’s the equivalent of two utility-scale coal or natural gas-fired power plants.
- California’s solar industry employs more than 25,000 workers. Solar job growth has been ten times higher than the overall economy, providing a rare bright spot during the recession.
- Solar has driven $10 billion in private investment in the state over the past 5 years, making it a real economic engine.
- Cash-strapped public agencies will save $2.5 billion in electricity costs of the next 30 years by going solar. Schools alone will save $1.5 billion.
- Rooftop solar has reduced the need for California ratepayers to invest in expensive and polluting peak generation and the transmission infrastructure needed to carry it.
- Local solar business innovation and scale that has effectively driven costs down and made solar more accessible to more Californians. Since 2009, 2/3 of California’s home solar installations have been in median income zip codes.
The state’s stable, transparent, long-term policy has been key to its solar success. Help us urge state lawmakers to continue support for rooftop solar and net metering here.
For wholesale solar power that delivers electricity to all Californians: There is an impressive list of opportunities underway to add more solar to the California grid. Setting the bar high, the Governor issued an executive order directing utilities to get 33% of their electricity from renewables by 2020.
Transmission is a key issue if the state is going to meet those renewable goals with large-scale solar facilities. With the lawfirm of Keyes and Fox, we have intervened in R.08-03-010 before the CPUC, with the goal of ensuring that the transmission necessary to bring utility-scale solar generation to load centers is done in a way to maximize conservation values and minimize impact.
In order to help bring more solar onto the grid in the meantime, we began an effort to address a policy gap for mid-sized solar systems by establishing a new program (called RAM) to buy wholesale solar energy from systems between 1 and 20 MW in size. More than two years in the making, the CPUC is now final stages of designing the program’s 1 GW pilot. Our first filings at the CPUC can be found here, next round of filings here, CPUC staff proposal is here, and the ALJ’s proposed decision can be found here.
All investor-owned utilities in California have also proposed major distributed generation PV programs to meet their renewable energy requirements. We will continue to engage to make sure both participation in these programs is robust and diverse (in this vein).
Vote Solar lead for California is Adam Browning.
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