Tag Archive for: rooftopsolar

Even after an appeals court rejected a lawsuit to overturn new solar panel regulations, environmental advocates still won't give up.

Solar power advocates say they’re not done fighting California’s new solar rules yet

Their case against the California Public Utilities Commission’s new solar panel rules might have been rejected by an appeals court in San Francisco, but rooftop solar power advocates say they’re not done fighting to expand renewable energy in the state.

On Wednesday, a panel of three First Appellate District judges rejected a petition brought by The Center for Biological Diversity, the Protect Our Communities Foundation and the Environmental Working Group challenging the California Public Utilities Commission’s new rules on “net energy metering,” a tariff created for people with rooftop solar panels which allows them to give energy they don’t use to the grid. For that, customers are given credit on their electrical bills.

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Source: Courthouse News Service

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Of 131 million US households, about 4.5 million have added rooftop solar. 2023 set a record with more than 1 million EVs sold in the US.

Electric vehicle owners and solar rooftops find mutual attraction

When Jim Selgo moved to his home in Goodyear, Arizona in 2019, he quickly had rooftop solar installed, having had a positive experience with solar at his previous home.

Less than a year later, motivated to take more action to address climate change, he said, Selgo bought his first electric vehicle, a Nissan Leaf. He hasn’t paid for electricity or gasoline since.

With solar, “You take advantage of what you’re producing at your own house,” he said. “Adding an EV just increases your savings and adds to the value of the whole project.”

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Source: US News

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Solar panel owners are still more likely to have higher incomes and live in wealthier states, but a few trends are changing things.

The income gap among households with solar panels is shrinking, study finds

Rooftop solar panels continue to be more popular among Americans with above-average incomes, but that trend is changing, according to a new report.

The median household income of a solar adopter in the US was about $117,000 in 2022, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found. By contrast, the median income for all households was $69,000, and $86,000 for all owner-occupied households.

While the typical household with solar panels was wealthier than the average household, that trend is changing just a bit. In 2010, the median income for a solar adopting household was $140,000.

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Source: CNET

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EU negotiators reached a huge milestone to accelerate renewable deployment by inking a deal on the EU Solar Standard.

EU agrees to a rooftop solar standard

Yesterday in the late evening, the EU negotiations on the European Performance of Building Directive concluded. The Directive defines energy efficiency targets aiming at decarbonising the EU building stock and key measures to use rooftop solar to cover the remaining electricity demand. SolarPower Europe has issued the following statement:

Jan Osenberg, Policy Advisor at SolarPower Europe, said: 

“EU negotiators reached a huge milestone to accelerate renewable deployment, yesterday, by inking a deal on the EU Solar Standard. Across all EU countries, it will require solar installations on all new public and commercial buildings by 2026, on all new residential buildings by 2029, on non-residential buildings that undergo a relevant renovation by 2027, and on all existing public buildings in a stepwise approach by 2030. The Commission presented the measure as part of the EU Solar Rooftop Strategy to counter the energy crisis.

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Source: Solar Power Europe

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Turkey is “lagging” in its solar power capacity but could generate 120 GW through better solar rooftop utilization.

Turkey could generate 120 GW through better solar rooftop rollout

Turkey is “lagging” in its solar power capacity but could generate 120 GW – 45% of the country’s total electricity needs – through better solar rooftop utilization, said UK environmental think tank Ember in a recently published report.

The report, penned by Ufuk Alparslan and Azem Yildirim, shows that $3.6 billion worth of subsidies, which paid for fossil fuel imports from September 2022 to August 2023, could be eliminated through better rooftop PV policies.

Introducing rooftop solar “obligations” for new buildings and public buildings, as well as tendering suitable apartment building roofs by municipalities, could help the government of Turkey achieve better residential solar take-up, Alparslan said in the report.

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Source: PV Magazine

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Environmental groups asked the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco to force CA regulators to reconsider new rooftop solar rules.

Utility regulators to defend new California solar rules in court this week

A California appeals court will hear a challenge of the state’s new solar rules this week.

Three environmental groups, the San Diego-based Protect Our Communities Foundation, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Environmental Working Group asked the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco to force California regulators to reconsider new rules for rooftop solar.

The legal challenge argues that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) violated the state’s public utility code when it approved the rule changes.

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Source: kpbs

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New projects have cratered and job losses are mounting in the six months since California regulators slashed the value of home solar systems.

California’s rooftop solar policy is killing its rooftop solar industry

It’s been six months since California regulators slashed the value of home rooftop solar systems — and the market crash that the state’s solar industry warned would result is now well underway.

On Thursday, the California Solar and Storage Association unveiled data showing a 77 to 85 percent drop in rooftop solar projects since April. That’s when the California Public Utilities Commission’s controversial ​“net metering 3.0” decision, which cuts about one-third to one-half of the compensation value of newly installed solar systems for households compared to what they could have received under the state’s prior net-metering regime, went into effect.

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Source: Canary Media

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Having rooftop solar is very important. Here are a few letters to the editor regarding cutting incentives for rooftop solar.

Cutting incentives for rooftop solar makes no sense. Speak up, Gov. Newsom

To the editor: As a resident of California who is concerned about the effects of climate change, I am totally baffled by the debate over how the state should address replacing fossil fuel power generation with solar energy. (“California strikes another blow against rooftop solar,” Nov. 16)

It appears that Gov. Gavin Newsom has mixed feelings on the issue. He recently went to China and discussed climate change, and after he returned every one of his appointees to the California Public Utilities Commission voted to approve reducing incentives for installing rooftop solar.

This is a survival issue, not a monetary one. I am currently installing power with battery storage at my home, and the cost is extremely high. By my math, the payback would never meet any corporate rate of return hurdle. I am doing it because it is my small contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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Source: Los Angeles Times

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After months of debate and two postponed votes, California’s utility regulator unanimously voted today to overhaul incentives for owners of apartment buildings, schools and businesses that install solar panels.

California reduces payments for rooftop solar power — for second time in a year

After months of debate and two postponed votes, California’s utility regulator unanimously voted today to overhaul incentives for owners of apartment buildings, schools and businesses that install solar panels.

The new regulations are the second major step that the California Public Utilities Commission has taken in the past year to reduce power companies’ financial support for rooftop solar. In December, the commission reduced payments to homeowners who sell excess power from newly installed solar panels on single-family homes.

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Source: CAL MATTERS

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Charitable foundations are using a variety of strategies to get solar panels for health centers, schools and other community buildings.

Here’s how foundations are bringing solar to lower-income communities

The rooftop solar industry is booming, but far too few lower-income Americans are benefiting as a result. It’s a ​“modern version of redlining,” according to Joe Evans of the Kresge Foundation. Now an increasing number of charitable foundations are stepping up to redress that injustice, using a range of approaches to bring the benefits of solar to the communities that need it most.

Thanks to foundations, more than 300 solar panels were installed in the Hopi and Navajo Nations in Arizona, creating jobs and providing reliable electricity to health centers, schools and other community buildings. A former coal mining area in West Virginia became a hub of solar development, with a comprehensive solar job-training program. Dozens of Wisconsin nonprofits received free solar panels, accelerating their shift to clean energy and boosting enthusiasm for solar in their communities. And 24 U.S. health centers in areas at risk for natural disasters developed solar systems with battery backup to supply power when the grid goes down.

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Source: Canary Media

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