Photo voltaic Insure tells pv journal USA that the monetary stability of rooftop photo voltaic firms in California is now in query. Regardless of this, a state appeals courtroom just lately reaffirmed various anti-solar selections.
From pv journal USA
A yr in the past, the California Public Utilities Fee (CPUC) authorised NEM 3.0, a rule-making determination carried out in April 2023 that slashed compensation for exported rooftop photo voltaic technology by roughly 80%.
Now, a number of months after implementation, the impression of NEM 3.0 has turn into clear. Utility interconnection queues present an 80% drop in set up purposes. The California Photo voltaic and Storage Affiliation (CALSSA) reported that just about 17,000 rooftop photo voltaic jobs, about 22% of the workforce, have been misplaced this yr because of this.
Photo voltaic Insure, which backs many set up firms within the state, advised pv journal USA that its knowledge exhibits 75% of photo voltaic installers are actually within the “high-risk” class following CPUC’s determination to implement NEM 3.0.
“We’ve got seen a wave of latest photo voltaic installer bankruptcies and consider one other wave will are available Q1 2024,” mentioned Ara Agopian, chief govt officer of Photo voltaic Insure.
Regardless of public protest and business warnings of devastating results, the CPUC dominated in favor of its non-public investor-owned utilities. These utilities pushed ahead the assumptions of NEM 3.0 primarily based on a name for fairness and equity, saying that renters have been being left behind by rooftop photo voltaic. Not lengthy after pushing the coverage via, CPUC revealed the fairness issues have been merely speak, and it moved via additional rule-making selections that made it tougher for renters reap the advantages of rooftop photo voltaic.
Due to the assistance of Governor Gavin Newsom’s appointed CPUC board, Pacific Gasoline and Electrical (PG&E), San Diego Gasoline and Electrical’s mum or dad conglomerate Sempra, and Southern California Edison (SCE), achieved the market circumstances they desired. The three firms have a market cap of roughly $120 billion, they usually have efficiently fastened the market to punish small rooftop photo voltaic installers and help utility-scale improvement as an alternative.
In a choice this week, the Courtroom of Attraction of the First Appellate District reaffirmed CPUC’s determination to implement NEM 3.0, regardless of the chapter and job loss knowledge. CALSSA mentioned this got here as no shock, because the 2013 laws requiring a reevaluation of web metering and the CPUC rule-making course of itself has been “stacked towards photo voltaic because the starting.”
The devastating job losses, bankruptcies, and unabashed regulatory moat constructing across the income of a hundred-billion-plus company beast calls into query the legislative foundations of Gavin Newsom’s appointed CPUC board.
California’s electrical energy costs have exploded during the last three years, far outpacing inflation. With out rooftop photo voltaic as a thorn in its aspect, the state’s utilities can proceed to reap income in a de facto monopoly.
The market circumstances have led to an increase in “grid defection,” the place prospects minimize the twine and depend on their very own photo voltaic belongings to energy their dwelling. As photo voltaic tools prices inherently go down over time, grid defection may symbolize an existential menace to personal utilities. Present laws makes it very troublesome to defect from the grid, and CPUC’s pro-utility perspective may seemingly place this in danger for being legislated out sooner or later, additional inserting Californians on the mercy of rising utility costs.
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