California Community Solar Isn’t Working. SoCal Edison Wants to Redesign It

The utility would gather customers for community projects, alongside other new 100 percent clean electricity options.

Southern California Edison is asking regulators for permission to improve clean energy offerings for customers who can’t install rooftop solar.

The utility connects between 3,000 and 5,000 solar roofs per month, but many of its 15 million customers don’t own their homes or have access to a suitable rooftop for solar generation. By the company’s own admission, the existing program to serve those residents with community solar didn’t work well enough.

California Sets Two New Solar Records

The escalating integration of solar has created “a new operating paradigm” for California’s grid operator, although the escalation is now on hold.

Mild temperatures and sunny skies helped California set two new solar records in recent days.

On Sunday, March 4, the California Independent System Operator saw an all-time peak percentage of demand served by solar, hitting a record 49.95 percent at 12:58 p.m. That's up from the previous peak of 47.2 percent set on May 14, 2017. 

"The record is a result of a cool, sunny day," Anne Gonzales, senior public information officer at CAISO, wrote in an email.

New California Law Gives PUC Leeway to Restructure Utility Rates

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill to promote greater use of renewable energy in California while allowing for changes in how consumers pay for electricity.

    

The Democratic governor said in a signing message Monday that AB 327 will provide "comprehensive rate reform."

CA: CPUC Issues Final Decision on Renewables Portfolio Standard Content Categories of SB 2X

On Dec. 15, the California Public Utilities Commission passed a highly technical and complex decision implementing portfolio content categories for the Renewables Portfolio Standard (“RPS”) program (“Final RPS Decision”). With a few exceptions, the Final RPS Decision closely mirrors the Proposed Decision which was issued on Oct. 7, 2011 and reported on in detail in an earlier advisory. Our earlier advisory also provides a good primer on the portfolio content categories for those who have not been following the RPS rulemaking (R.11-05-005).

This advisory describes the differences between the Proposed Decision and the Final RPS Decision, and discusses where the RPS rulemaking goes from here and how that might impact the energy industry.