User:Picklenchips/Solar power in California

Solar power in California Sandbox

History

In 2014, California led the nation in the number of homes which have solar panels installed, totaling over 230,000. Many were installed because of the Million Solar Roof Initiative.

In December 2017, the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program was approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. The program plans to allocate one billion dollars from the state's greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program to incentivize owners of affordable, multi-family buildings to install solar, with a goal of adding 300 MW of capacity by 2030.

In May 2018, the California Energy Commission (CEC) required that nearly all new homes (both single-family and multi-family) under four stories be built with rooftop photovoltaic solar panels . Developers can also receive approval from the CEC to subscribe new homes to local community solar generation. In early 2020, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) was approved to provide community solar to new homes in Sacramento.

Hourly graph of total electric load (green), vs. total electric demand with renewables (purple) which is known as the duck curve for its shape. Note the duck curve's steep rise from 17:00 to 18:00 as the sun sets, requiring some 5 GW of natural gas production to come online within an hour to supply peak demand by 20:00.

Solar systems with battery storage are now much more valuable than systems without battery storage, mostly because new solar generation exacerbates the duck curve (imbalance in traditional power plant demand). Solar production causes fossil-fuel power plants to be turned down to minimum during the day, but when solar production stops in the evening peaker plants must quickly ramp generation by 5GW an hour to supply peak demand. New solar generation only displaces other solar generation and increases the supply ramping needed by peaker plants, which is expensive for utilities. Battery storage systems flatten the duck curve by storing solar and wind energy at non-peak hours and discharging it at peak hours. California's most recent net energy metering policy now incentivizes systems with battery storage more than solar systems with no installed storage.

Government Support / Net Metering

California's net energy metering program incentivizes distributed solar generation and battery storage by compensating customers for excess energy they export to the electric grid. A consumer's excess solar generation is bought by the local utility at or below retail pricing when it is exported, allowing consumers to "store" their own generation in the grid to be used at any time.

Net metering was first implemented in 1995 in the passing of Senate Bill (SB) 656, known now as NEM1.

Out of 38 states evaluated in a rating of state net metering policy in 2007, California was one of five states to receive an A. IREC best practices, based on experience, recommends no limits to net metering, individual or aggregate, and perpetual roll over of kWh credits. As California was rapidly approaching the 5% aggregate limit, a May 24, 2012, ruling by the CPUC clarified the calculation of the limit, and requested a report on the cost of net metering. California subsequently uncapped the net metering program. Typically states have raised or eliminated their aggregate limits before they were reached. By 2011, 16 states including California received an A for net metering.

In 2013, Assembly Bill (AB) 327 mandated that a successor to the existing NEM1, NEM2, should be adopted by the CPUC. NEM2 went into effect in SDG&E's service territory on June 29, 2016, PG&E's service territory on December 15, 2016, and SCE's service territory on July 1, 2017. One of NEM2's key objectives was to ensure continued growth of distributed solar by removing the 1,000kW limit on new systems. While NEM2 continued to compensate customers with full retail pricing, it also included three charges: a one-time interconnection fee, non-bypassable charges that fund low-income customers, energy efficiency programming and other energy programs, and a time-of-use (TOU) rate.

California's current net metering policy is outlined in the Net Billing Tariff, known as NEM3, which went into effect as of April 15th, 2023. The Tariff takes into account proposals from various parties, including a lookback study on NEM 2.0 and 1.0. While in NEM1 and 2 customers received credits for energy exported and deducted those credits when importing electricity from the grid at a nearly 1:1 exchange, under NEM3 energy exports are now valued at the avoided cost to the utility — the wholesale price it takes the utility to produce energy. Credits are typically $0.05 per kWh, but when electricity demand is high it can spike up to $2.87 per kWh.

California's net metering policy was rated 19th by Solar Reviews in 2021, California receives a B only because electricity credits include charges and don't pay at full retail rate but at marginal cost.

Non-Peer-Review Parts

Notable Utility-Scale Solar Farms

1. The Desert Sunlight Solar Farm – a 550 MW solar farm, it is capable of satisfying the energy needs of 142,000 homes – compare this to the largest solar panels in Florida,
2. The Topaz Solar Farm – a 550 MW solar power farm, enough to supply 142,000 California homes with renewable energy,
3. The Ivanpah Solar Power Facility – a 392 MW solar power tower concentrated solar production facility, can power 101,000 homeowners with renewable energy,
4. The Solar Energy Generating Systems – a 361 MW concentrated solar power plant, which can satisfy the energy usage of as many as 93,000 households,
5. The Maverick Solar Cluster – a group of power plants, their can produce 303.9 MW of solar power, just enough renewable energy for 78,000 homes,
6. The Desert Stateline Solar Facility, a 300 MW power plant, powers 77,000 homes with renewable energy,
7. The Mojave Solar Project –  a 280 MW parabolic concentrated solar power station, powers 72,000 California homes with clean electricity,
8. The California Flats Solar Project – a 280 MW solar photovoltaic power plant, enough for 72,000 California homes,
9. The Genesis Solar Energy Project – a 280 MW concentrated solar power plant, satisfies energy usage of 72,000 Cali homes,
10. The Mount Signal Solar project – a 265,7 MW solar farm, 68,000 homes can go solar thanks to this project,
11. The California Valley Solar Ranch – a 250 MW solar photovoltaic farm, can power 64,500 homes,
12. The Redwood Solar Cluster – a group of four solar stations with a total solar energy output of 100 MW, can supply clean electricity to 25,800 homes.

Affordability

Housing affordability is also a concern with this measure, an area where California already struggles greatly. According to a 2017 survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, 37.8% of California homeowners with mortgages are "cost-burdened," with housing costs exceeding 30% of the household income, and 16.3% face housing costs exceeding 50% of the household income. The CEC predicts that the requirement of photovoltaic panels will increase the cost of a newly built single-family home by about $40 per month in extra mortgage payments, but eventually save about $80 on electricity costs. The CEC released data showing that the system would more than pay for itself, however charitable organizations such as Habitat for Humanity have expressed their concerns as this will require the organization to receive additional donations to pay for the photovoltaic panels that the group would be required to install on every house it builds.