California utility regulators have approved major changes to the state's booming rooftop solar industry.
FILE - Gen Nashimoto, of Luminalt, installs solar panels in Hayward, Calif., on April 29, 2020. California air regulators are set to approve an ambitious plan for the state to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. Doing so will require a rapid transition away from oil and gas and toward renewable energy to power everything from cars to buildings.
The policy approved unanimously by the California Public Utilities Commission lessens the overall payment for selling excess power. It also revamps electric rates to try to encourage people to build home storage systems alongside their panels, so they can tap that stored power at night or feed it back to the grid, either of which would help the system rely less on fossil fuels.
But battery storage is not yet widespread. Today about 16% to 20% of the 150,000 households that install solar panels annually in California add battery storage systems, according to industry estimates. As of 2020, California started requiringThe commission's vote followed sustained criticism over three hours of public comment in which some speakers accused the commission — and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration — of hindering the state's climate efforts.
A utility-backed coalition called Affordable Clean Energy for All estimates that $4 billion in costs are shifted from solar to non-solar customers. Since the change doesn't apply to existing solar customers, the cost shift will continue putting pressure on energy bills for everyone else, the coalition argued.
Broadly, solar companies have warned that fewer people will add home solar because the overall value of rooftop solar is going down. The average household solar and storage system costs about $26,000 when taking into account federal tax credits that cover about 30% of the cost, said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar & Storage Association
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