Solar panels line the roof of a home on Channing Avenue in Palo Alto on March 3, 2009. Photo by Veronica Weber.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently set aside plans to vote on a controversial proposal to revise the state’s rooftop solar program. That’s good. This time-out gives regulators a chance to rethink their proposal and tackle what Gov. Gavin Newsom described as “still … some work to do.”
I agree there is still work to be done. California is the U.S. leader in solar energy and adds a power plant-worth of rooftop solar about every five months. As of last year, our state had 25 gigawatts (GW) of solar on the grid, with utility-scale solar accounting for 15 GW and 10 GW of distributed solar, nearly all of it from rooftop solar. To put that into perspective, 1 GW is enough to power 110 million LEDs or about 9,060 Nissan Leafs.
However, being the leader…