Photovoltaic installations and roof batteries remain a valuable investment

Solar installations in California have fallen off the cliff, with the market at a 10-year low.

This is exactly what solar advocates have warned in the wake of the California Public Utilities Commission’s recent decision to drastically and abruptly reduce incentives for consumers to use rooftop solar. And that’s exactly what utilities, who see rooftop solar as competition, have wanted all along.

A recent opinion piece in this article concluded that the rooftop solar panel industry is not dying, but rather adapting to changing market conditions

The solar and storage industry is a resilient and innovative group. Rooftop solar combined with batteries continues to be a valuable investment for consumers, especially as Pacific Gas & Electric rates continue to rise. We will find a way to go further and put solar and batteries back into the hands of everyone, from public schools to renters. However, the market deterioration is undeniable, and its consequences go beyond the impact on businesses and workers in the solar industry.

While thousands of solar workers lost their jobs last year and many companies closed their facilities, long-term damage has been done to our clean energy and grid strengthening goals.

Every Californian is counting on local solar and storage to help keep the lights on and reduce air pollution, because PG&E and other investor-owned utilities obviously can’t do it on their own.

Benefits for everyone

According to the California Energy Commission, rooftop solar must double by 2030 to meet our climate goals. Before last year, this spectacular feat was within reach thanks to the growing number of working- and middle-class consumers switching to solar energy. California is committed to installing an additional 2 million solar rooftops and hundreds of thousands of batteries by 2030, consistent with our climate goals.

That process slowed as PG&E pressured the CPUC to scrap its most important solar program, net metering, which incentivized new rooftop installations. The decision reduced the bill that utilities must provide for new solar projects, from homes to apartment buildings to schools, for the excess electricity they produce and put back into the grid.

As California’s population grows and electricity consumption skyrockets, it is essential that the state increases its energy capacity to keep up with demand. Some of this new power will come from large solar farms and giant battery banks in the desert, but not all. California must build solar and batteries in our cities, too, or electricity demand will outstrip supply and the grid will fail us once again.

The CPUC said the decision to cut solar incentives was intended to reduce what they see as the cost burden on households without roof panels. However, the decision did not fully consider all the ways rooftop solar can save everyone money.

The CPUC assumes that rooftop solar customers, who draw less power from the grid, are a burden on everyone else, even though these solar panels save everyone billions in avoided generation and transmission costs. That the CPUC discounted shared benefits and inflated costs is one of the reasons the California Supreme Court agreed to review this decision.

The cost of doing nothing

When it comes to climate change, the cost of inaction is always higher. The most stupid and expensive thing California can do is wait to produce all the clean energy we need.

It’s easy to see why large utilities hate rooftop solar. More local solar energy means less need for utility spending, which in turn directly reduces utility profits. They try to hide the ball by getting rid of the competition.