California’s once-thriving residential solar industry is in ruins after state officials slashed rooftop solar incentives, causing thousands of job losses, said clean energy advocates and solar industry representatives during a recent virtual briefing.

California clean energy industry rocked with widespread jobs losses, bankruptcies, following state’s dismantling of rooftop solar program::undefined

  • phoneymouse@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    11 months ago

    Well - they kinda needed the grid for this program. Basically, the incentive was you could install solar and send your excess power to the grid. Whatever you put on the grid, you could take back 1:1 when you needed it (ie. at night). Essentially, you could treat the grid as your battery, without needing to pay for a battery. This made the break even time horizon super short.

    It also meant solar customers weren’t paying much for grid infrastructure and transmission costs.

    Now, you can only draw back 25% of what you send to the grid. Getting a battery now makes more sense, but it’s also a big upfront cost.

    Don’t get me wrong. PGE is evil incarnate and its execs should be sent to prison. The company should be seized by the public. Rates should be lowered on the backs of executive bonuses and salaries.

    But, as a non-solar owner, I do think the previous deal was only going to increase costs for non-solar customers. It couldn’t last forever. Hopefully, the state does improve the current incentives just a bit though. More than anything though, the state needs to take control of PGE and fire the execs.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      11·
      11 months ago

      I’m talking about a permanent and irrevocable state takeover of the company. I grew up in California, and still have family there. PG&E has demonstrated that they are wildly inept - perhaps criminally so - for basically my entire life. They do not deserve to be a company.