California's utilities regulator today cut incentives for community solar projects, likely crimping solar power options for renters.
Get the news that matters to all Californians. Start every week informed.These community projects can give renters and low-income homeowners a chance to go solar, but the PUC’s action is unlikely to give them the option.
The commission calculates the benefits derived from distributed, small-scale solar power projects, which provide a ‘service’ by sending clean energy to the power grid and reducing transmission costs by serving nearby communities. Solar developers are compensated for the value of the benefit their project provides.
One of the concerns for solar advocates is what happens after that pot of funding runs out and the financial incentive to develop solar evaporates.“The foundations of a sustainable program should not be built on one-time money,” said Derek Chernow, Western Regional Director for the Coalition for Community Solar Access.
With electric bills soaring for many Californians, she also was critical of the impact of “cost shift,” the idea that the subsidies provided to community solar projects are costs borne by all ratepayers. It’s a fundamental fairness argument that the commission has applied in other proceedings, to justify reducing subsidies.
“The CPUC’s recent series of decisions threatens to unravel California’s clean energy progress,” said the Solar Energy Industries Association in a statement. “It’s past time for Governor Newsom and state leaders to reign in the commission before it inflicts more damage on customers and the state’s clean energy economy.”
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