This is getting real, folks. California
legislators voted this week to advance two different bills that open up access
to solar to the 75+ percent of energy customers who can’t put it on their own
roof. Here’s the skinny on the two bills and what we need you to do to
make sure shared solar becomes a reality in California this legislative session.
Senate Bill 43, authored by longtime solar champion Senator Lois
Wolk, creates a 500MW pilot program that would enable customers of PG&E,
SCE, and SDG&E to sign up to participate in shared renewable energy
facilities, and receive a credit on their utility bill for the energy produced
by their share of the project. SB 43 was approved by the California
Senate Thursday on a 27-9 vote.
Assembly Bill 1014, authored by Assemblyman Das Williams, builds off
a settlement agreement currently before the CPUC to create a “Green
Option” tariff program, which was negotiated this spring between investor-owned
utility PG&E, ratepayer advocates, environmental advocates, and unions.
AB 1014 expands this program to the state’s two other major utilities:
SCE and SDG&E. AB 1014 was approved by the Assembly Friday
on a 55-17 vote.
Vote Solar has been working with a broad coalition of allies to
support the bills’ passage and
we’re thrilled to have reached this milestone. Now we’ve got to keep the
pressure on to make sure we get the best possible outcome as these bills
continue to move through the legislature. There are a couple key provisions at
stake:
1. Letting the market innovate. SB 43 allows organizations
developing shared renewable energy projects to interface directly with
customers; they could market their projects to customers and charge them
for their share of the clean energy generation. AB 1014 puts the utility
in the middle of this transaction, so that customers pay the utility for clean
energy at a set rate, and the utility in turn buys the energy from
developers. This limits the ability of the market to innovate and create
offerings tailored to customer interests, whether it be specific project
locations, technologies, or financing needs. We believe AB 1014 should,
at minimum, contain provisions that allow the market to innovate within the
green tariff to meet customer desires, so more people buy in, and we get more
clean energy powering our homes and businesses, faster.
2. Making sure customers get a fair deal. Whether it’s the utility
or a third party that’s signing contracts with consumers, we have to make sure
that the terms of those deals provide a fair value for the clean energy
generation. SB 43 proposes to accomplish this by asking the Public
Utilities Commission to do a cost-benefit analysis and determine what the
renewable energy is worth, then participants’ bill credit equal to that value –
pretty straightforward. AB 1014 adopts the credits and charges for participants
outlined in the PG&E-TURN proposed settlement, which include benefits of
renewables as the CPUC determines them but also includes departing load charges
that customers would have to pay in order to participate in shared renewable
energy projects. We’ll need to stay vigilant as these bills move forward
to ensure the provisions around pricing are fair to consumers.
Getting the specifics of the policy design right will be critical,
or course, for creating a healthy, well-functioning shared renewables market in
California. But we are on the brink of a major step: allowing thousands of
Californians who can’t put renewables on their own property – renters,
businesses, schools, churches, the military, public agencies – to invest in
more clean energy for the first time. The momentum in the Legislature shows
that shared renewable energy is a truly an idea whose time has come. Maybe
that’s because it’s common sense – give Californians more control over their
individual energy choices, create new jobs in an industry that’s here to stay,
bring more clean energy to our communities. Win-win-win.
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