NEM 3.0 rules have undermined California’s rooftop solar industry and could hamper the state’s efforts to meet its climate targets.

By Julian Spector

When California undercut its own rooftop solar market one year ago, it surrendered a crucial tool for achieving its ambitious climate goals.

For the last two decades, California set the national standard for clean energy policy. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, jumpstarted the rooftop solar industry in 2006 with his Million Solar Roofs initiative, and championed binding carbon-reduction goals with AB32, which guides the state to this day. Successor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed into law a deadline to switch to a zero-carbon electricity system by 2045. Now the state is working to cut the fossil fuels it relies on for nearly 40 percent of its electricity, especially when the nation’s largest solar fleet goes to sleep for the night.