California has more solar capacity than any other state, but residents can’t access solar power for themselves without installing their own panels.
But an August study conducted by UCLA researchers found that California has failed to build a functioning community solar program, which would allow people to do just that. The dysfunction isn’t because of technology, cost or demand, but because the state’s regulators have declined to apply the same valuation tools used for other solar programs to community solar, the study found.
Community solar programs allow subscribers to use a share of the power and savings generated by an offsite collection of solar panels. The programs can also strengthen the grid by storing energy to supply power during peak demand, according to the study.
Unlike rooftop solar – which requires homeownership – or large-scale commercial solar – which requires major infrastructure – community solar functions as a model that can serve renters, small businesses and multifamily housing, said Sid Shah, one of the report’s co-authors.
“A lot of these multifamily residences, a lot of these small businesses, a lot of these what I would call small-scale operations end up getting discounts from their community solar provider,” said Shah, a doctoral student in environment and sustainability and former Daily Bruin staffer. “It really helps low-to-moderate-income consumers who are also conscious about their energy consumption.”
About 44% of California’s population are renters, compared to roughly 35% of the United States’ population, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
Renters – and anyone else who cannot install personal solar panels – are the most affected by California’s lack of a functioning community solar project, said Megan Osawa, a graduate student in environmental engineering and chapter director of environmental club E3-Regenesis.
“We’re missing the point by excluding people with the highest energy burden, who represent a huge part of the population, from participating in clean energy,” Osawa said. “If they can’t own their property, they can’t put solar on their roof. They should still be able to get access through community solar.”
The report centers on California’s Avoided Cost Calculator, a tool the state developed to measure the benefits clean energy provides to the community’s electrical grid – including reducing strain during high demand periods and decreasing costly infrastructure upgrades.
Regulators have declined to use the tool to credit customers of community solar projects, a decision that prevents developers from financing and building these projects in the state, the report found. When valued properly, community solar can deliver savings on subscribers’ bills and generate reliable returns, according to the report.
Shah said in the report that he believes California’s crediting model lags in comparison to those in New York, Maryland and Illinois – each of which has built a functioning community solar market by applying its version of the Avoided Cost Calculator for those projects.
“The whole point of the report was to say that the state regulators have a lot of good examples to look at nationally to value these systems correctly,” he added.
Assembly Bill 1813 is a potential step toward expanding California’s community solar projects, Shah said. The bill would evaluate whether community solar projects can give subscribers a discount on their electric bills using the Avoided Cost Calculator, rather than the lower wholesale rate.
The bill also enables third-party developers – companies other than the state’s investor-owned utilities, such as Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric – to build community solar projects, Shah said.
AB 1813 has passed the Assembly and the Senate and now awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature by Sept. 30.
Ansul Adhikari, a rising third-year environmental science student, said he was disappointed, but not surprised, by the report’s findings of California’s lack of community solar programming.
“California does a pretty good job at our environmental regulation, … but to hear that our solar program hasn’t gone off the ground as well as other states’ have, it’s disappointing,” said Adhikari, the director of finance and a division leader in the International Urban Sustainability Student Corps. “We have the most people out of any state, biggest economy out of any state, so obviously, the money is there to do it.”
Raising public awareness by working with environmental justice advocacy groups is the way to push regulators and lawmakers to act, he added.
“What needs to happen is they need to hear from communities,” Adhikari said. “When lawmakers see that people care about an issue, then they have no choice but to acknowledge it.”
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