Growing Local Solar and Storage at All Levels of Government
For over forty years, CALSSA has worked to put in place and defend solar and storage policies and programs that have made California one of the biggest and most successful solar markets in the world.
Through the years, CALSSA has played a leading role in legislation such as the California Solar Initiative, The Solar Hot Water and Efficiency Act, the Solar Rights Act, and recent laws limiting permit fees and boosting clean energy incentives. We intervene in CPUC proceedings such as net metering, Rule 21, SGIP program rules, and rate cases. And we jump in when code changes threaten the solar and storage market, fight for well-structured consumer protection initiatives, work to keep all our elected officials from mayors to members of congress informed and aware of the benefits of distributed solar and energy storage.
If you have any questions about our program work please, reach out to our team.
Protecting NET METERING
Net metering is the foundational policy enabling California consumers to invest in solar energy in a cost-effective and efficient manner. In 2013, the California Legislature passed AB 327, which put in motion changes to net metering rules. CALSSA has been deeply engaged in the proceedings at the CPUC to consider changes to net metering. The CPUC adopted NEM-2 as an interim change in January 2016. NEM-2 deducted certain public purpose charges from NEM credit value and required residential solar customers to be on time-of-use rates.
In December 2022, the CPUC finalized NEM-3, which drastically reduces export credits and requires residential solar customers to be on specific rate schedules with monthly fixed charges and a higher differential between peak and off-peak rates. Export credits in NEM-3 are calculated according to an extremely conservative and erroneous value of solar calculator, with a different set of hourly values for each month.
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.
INTERCONNECTION
Every customer that installs solar and storage must submit an interconnection application to the utility. In order to meet our clean energy goals efficiently, it is essential that the utilities carry out this work without disruptive delays that increase project costs. Contrary to this goal, utilities provide terrible customer service in carrying out their interconnection duties. Too often, they process applications slowly and impose requirements that are not based on reasonable safety concerns.
CALSSA is working to streamline the interconnection process through proceedings at the CPUC and direct discussions with utilities. We collect information on systematic bottlenecks and work with the utilities to resolve them.
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.
Contractors and home improvement salespeople (HIS) in California must comply with various consumer protection requirements. These include home improvement contract law, enforced by the CSLB, as well as disclosure requirements from the CPUC that are regulated in the interconnection process. CALSSA works at the CPUC, CSLB and Legislature on implementing requirements that protect consumers while facilitating the continued growth of solar and storage. We work with our members to comply with new and existing rules.
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.
Consumer Protection
DEVELOPING FAIR RATES
CALSSA represents solar and storage interests in rate cases at the California Public Utilities Commission. Utilities have large teams of analysts and lawyers that influence the Commission on rate design. It is essential that we take a seat at the table and present our analysis of the impacts of rate changes. We submit testimony, cross-examine utility representatives, write legal briefs, and meet directly with Commission officials.
Demand charges are an outdated pricing structure that should be phased out. Monthly fixed charges should not be higher for solar customers than other customers, and should be contained at reasonable levels. There is tremendous opportunity to develop optional real time pricing rates that enable customers with energy storage to reduce their bills by responding to dynamic price signals. CALSSA also needs to be on alert for utility rate proposals that discourage solar and storage.
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.
California is not only a national leader in solar and storage adoption, but increasingly is leading the nation in its adoption among low- and moderate-income households, including renters. Nearly 50% of the zip codes in which solar has been interconnected have an area median income that is classified as low or moderate. Some of the zip codes and counties that have had the highest rates of solar adoption are in disadvantaged communities. The adoption rates of solar in zip codes with a household AMI of between $50,000 and $125,000 continue to increase at a dramatically higher rate relative to adoption of solar in zip codes with a household AMI of $175,000 and above. Since 2013, over 70% of single-family residential solar adoption in California has been in communities with 150% or below of the household area median income for the county – households that the Biden Administration, through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, recognizes as working- or middle-class.
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.
Solar and storage
for All
Streamlined permitting
Well written and enforced codes and standards are the engine of growth for any emerging market but unnecessary red tape can throw a wrench into even the most greased of wheels. In fact, stubborn soft costs from California’s inefficient permitting system is one of the biggest barriers to market growth, especially in a post-NEM3 world. For decades, CALSSA has fought alongside our members to simplify, standardize, and streamline permitting for both commercial and residential solar and energy storage systems. We passed AB 2188 in 2014 mandating streamlined and standardized permitting throughout the state and the Solar Access Act (SB 379) in 2022 mandating online automated permitting such as use of the SolarAPP. Both of these laws work in tandem to create a clear path forward for building departments statewide.
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.
The Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is a federal tax credit for individuals and businesses that purchase qualifying solar and storage technologies. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the ITC currently stands at 30% of system cost until 2032 for residential systems and 2033 for commercial systems. Projects larger than one megawatt must meet certain labor requirements to receive the full 30% credit. There are multiple opportunities to go above 30% for commercial projects in certain underserved parts of the state. CALSSA works to educate our members on the various requirements to claim the commercial and residential ITC.
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.
The Investment Tax Credit & the Inflation Reduction Act
The Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) has been California’s largest incentive program to encourage the adoption of customer-sited energy storage systems. CALSSA-sponsored SB 700 (Wiener) added funds to the program in 2019. The program has provided over one billion dollars in rebates for 27,000 energy storage projects, comprising 950 MWh. CALSSA continues to advocate for additional funding. In addition, we work with the program administrators and the CPUC to streamline the program in the face of confusing instructions and complicated requirements, and we educate our members on how best to comply with program rules.
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.
The Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP)
Solar WATER HEATING
Solar thermal technologies capture heat energy from the sun and use it to heat water and air for homes, businesses and industrial uses. It is California’s oldest form of solar energy, and is more efficient than PV at converting sunlight into usable energy. CALSSA is working to ensure that solar water heating is a core piece of the state’s strategy for meeting both greenhouse gas reduction and zero energy building goals.
Solar water heating has a long history of reducing natural gas for water heating in homes and businesses. It also is an important strategy for electrification of buildings, replacing gas-based heating altogether. It can be used as a stand-alone technology or in conjunction with heat pump water heaters in multifamily and commercial settings. Solar thermal technologies are an effective option for industrial water heating that is traditionally done with heavy consumption of natural gas.
Rooftop Solar Thermal Technologies Fact Sheet
View CALSSA’s Fact Sheet about Solar Thermal
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.
Virtual Power Plants
Customer-sited energy storage systems, and other distributed energy resources, can be combined into fleets to create a single resource dispatching energy in a way that makes them act like a power plant. Often called a virtual power plant (VPP), a fleet of batteries offers many advantages for the grid, utilities, and customers. VPPs can provide flexible, dispatchable energy resources at the right moment to help avert blackouts, serve as emergency grid resources, and address energy price spikes. They can help utilities meet energy reliability requirements and reduce the need for transmission and distribution system upgrades. By being part of a VPP, customers can earn compensation that reduces the cost of a battery system, making it easier to adopt storage and gain needed resilience and bill savings.
CALSSA sees virtual power plants as a foundational building block of the clean energy future, and is committed to transforming California energy policy to foster their growth and success. VPPs will be key to having a reliable, resilient, affordable clean energy grid.
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.
The advent of virtual net energy metering (VNEM) in 2011 has allowed tenants in multifamily housing and condominium residents to receive many of the same benefits of solar that has been available to homeowners in single-family homes and duplexes. Since 2011, there has been a steady rise in deployment of VNEM systems. Two types of VNEM programs of note are the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing program promulgated by SB 693 (Eggman, 2015), and its predecessor Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing program, promulgated by SB 1 (Murray, 2006). These two affordable housing multifamily solar programs have experienced a tremendous amount of growth over the past two years. 2020 and 2021 together account for nearly 500 projects that have been completed or are nearing completion. The projects completed or nearing completion between 2019 and 2021 account for approximately 100 MW. In addition, since 2011 the Single-family Affordable Solar Homes program has continued to add over 600 solar interconnections every year for low-income consumers while providing valuable career training and development opportunities to their installers. In December 2022 the California Public Utilities Commission issued a scoping memo that lays out a proceeding to implement a community solar program under AB 2316 (Ward, 2022) intended to benefit low- and moderate-income customers and/or renters.
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We have multiple resources for our members in the Members-Only section of our website, including FAQ pages, factsheets, recorded webinars and more.