The fight over California community solar: ​'It's everyone vs. utilities'

[usonian]

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/the-fight-over-california-community-solar-everyone-vs-the-utilities

Lots here. I’m just quoting some paragraphs that distinguish this from the recent PUC ruling.

If adopted, the NVBT could also ensure that the potential money-saving benefits of solar are not put even further out of reach for lower-income households and disadvantaged communities. Changes to rooftop-solar policy that went into effect earlier this year have already weakened the economics of rooftop solar in the state and made it harder to afford.

AB 2316 requires that low- and moderate-income households make up at least 51 percent of a community solar project’s subscribers. The coalition behind the NVBT has pledged to structure payments to these households to ensure significant reductions to their utility bills.

“We really need an alternative to allow anyone, regardless of their home status, to subscribe to clean energy that needs to be built in the state, and receive true benefits on their bill,” said Alexis Sutterman, energy equity program manager for the California Environmental Justice Alliance, a coalition of grassroots groups that has joined the push for community solar.

How community solar can fill gaps in the grid and help housing affordability
A key advantage of community solar-battery projects is their flexibility: Because they’re relatively small, typically about 5 megawatts, they can be built and connected to the grid in many places that utility-scale solar can’t, Sutterman said. That could unlock options for dealing with a number of challenges California faces in achieving its climate and energy targets.

Cross-posted to Environment and Energy

[The Mouth]

1. The change in Net Energy Metering

was devastating to the solar business.

Good intentions, utterly idiotic.

[usonian]

2. I guess that it benefits the battery maker

and that would be?

Never mind.

[The Mouth]

3. It was supposedly because current solar rules favored 'rich' people

But what actually happened is that no one now but the VERY rich can afford solar. They drastically reversed the economic feasibility of rooftop solar.

[usonian]

4. You're preaching to the choir.

The very rich can and do go off-grid entirely.

The PUC is in the back pocket of the utilities. Get slobs to pay for the batteries.

Frickin welfare for the rich, everywhere. The lies are their disguise.