Summary:

The California Senate Energy Committee has given the green light to SB 288, the California Solar Bill of Rights, which would give Californians the right to generate, store and use renewable energy on their property without interference from utility companies.

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Main Article:

A proposal to give Californians more power to use solar power in their homes passed its first hurdle today, after the state Senate's Energy Committee approved it 11-0.

"Our legislation (#SB 288) to make it easier for individuals, businesses, schools, & affordable housing to install solar, energy storage, & other clean energy technology just passed its 1st committee. Utilities make it hard to install clean energy. SB 288 removes those barriers," wrote state Senator  Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) who along with fellow legislator Jim Nielsen (R-Red Bluff) seeks to “enable more consumers to install and maintain renewable energy technologies by addressing some of the main barriers consumers currently face”

These challenges include outdated tariffs that make it financially unattractive to install renewable energy technologies, including solar, and unreasonable barriers to connecting to the grid.

Although known as the Solar Bill of Rights, SB 288 is technology neutral and applies to all renewable sources of energy and energy storage.

In announcing the measure, the legislators noted that “many consumers who install on-site energy storage systems and are connected to the electric grid may at times receive no compensation at all for the additional electricity they are storing and putting back into the grid during the times of day when it is most needed. Instead, these same consumers could later be charged for electricity that they themselves discharged onto the electric grid.” 

SB 288 requires the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Independent System Operator, and the board of publicly owned utilities around the state to update relevant tariffs to ensure fair compensation of these distributed energy resources (DERs).

Behind the measure are owners of home solar powered systems who have banded together to advocate for their rights.

They are called the Solar Rights Alliance (SRA), a nonprofit group established in 2018 to represent “the nearly 1 million Californians who have invested in solar energy.” 

They are solar panel owners and solar-interested parties in California who operate under the belief that “the right to make and store (their) own energy from the sun without interference, discrimination or red tape from the utilities or the government.”

They say that “across California, lobbyists for the utility industry are working to make it harder and more expensive for Californians to choose solar energy. In recent years they tried to kill net metering, hit solar owners with new fees and grab control of the next generation of solar technology”.

The Solar Bill of Rights promotes energy independence by recognizing that all Californians have a right to:

●      Generate, store and use renewable energy on their property without interference from utility companies.

●      Interconnect their solar power and storage to the grid quickly, without utility red tape.

●      Be free from discriminatory fees and charges associated with installing solar or storage technologies.

The Solar Bill of Rights will also make it easier for storage customers to provide grid services with their battery, helping to create a more reliable electric grid and receive a fair credit in return.

"Every Californian has the right to make their own energy from the sun without the utility getting in the way, especially in these uncertain times," said Solar Rights Alliance Director Dave Rosenfeld.

The unanimous approval to SB 288 by the Senate Energy Commitee came after over two hours of a public hearing where 52 individuals, mostly consumers and solar workers, spoke in support of the bill. 

It now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee since it requires action from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). If approve there, it goes to both before the Assembly and the Senate for a decision. 

If the California measure is approved, it could serve as a model for other states, or even be included in a nationwide clean-energy bill in the coming years.

The bill has the backing of Vote Solar and the California Solar and Storage Alliance (CALSSA), as the main advocacy groups for distributed solar in California. Another co-author is state Senator Jeff Stone (R-Riverside County), as well as four assembly members.