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OPINION – Solar panels have become about as emblematic of California as Yosemite’s El Capitan and surfing. Surfing gave us bleached-blonde and beach-bound iconoclasts (and Dick Dale’s guitar riffs), while El Capitan and neighboring granite walls gave rise to daring cliff climbers who lived on the fringe of societal conventions — not unlike many of the early off-the-grid (or mostly) solar energy users. These three subcultures were loosely rooted in the maverick’s mantra: “Do your own thing.”
However, in the latter half of the 1970s, Gov. Jerry Brown, an iconoclast in his own right, began touting solar energy as a cornerstone of a more sustainable energy future that included larger-scale deployment.
Brown promoted and signed legislation that provided generous tax incentives for solar energy producers and purchasers, and he established the SolarCal Council in 1978 to further bolster solar projects. When President Jimmy Carter and congress enacted the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to spur the utilization of solar and other renewable energy, Brown enthusiastically implemented its provisions in the Golden State.
Carter famously had solar panels placed on the White House roof, and, while standing next to them, challengingly stated: “A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.”
A generation later California began to embody Carter’s promising vision of solar and renewed Brown’s pioneering spirit and efforts. In 2002, the state established its ambitious Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which required investor-owned utilities (IOUs) like PG&E to increase use of larger-scale solar (and other “green” energy) annually; in 2006 the state created the California Solar Initiative to provide incentives for smaller-scale solar, mainly for household rooftops.
Twenty years later, the amount of rooftop solar energy in California dwarfs that of any other state; and the state also leads the nation in large-scale solar capacity. This achievement is a cause for celebration. But beneath the surface of that success is an ongoing tension between small rooftop-solar advocates and the IOUs, which procure cheaper large-scale solar power pursuant to the RPS.
During the 2010s, rooftop solar became immensely popular given the California Solar Initiative’s generous subsidies, and as the number of households with solar grew so did a significant “cost shift” borne by residential IOU customers without solar. This cost shift occurs primarily because solar households pay less for the fixed costs built into utility rates that include funding for EV charging, energy efficiency programs, and the poles and wires we all depend on – and will for a long time — whether you’re utilizing electricity from the grid or putting it onto the grid from your rooftop solar panels.
That fact notwithstanding, the head of the California Solar Rights Alliance has contended that household “Solar is a path to greater freedom and independence for every man, woman and child of our great state” – a liberation seemingly akin to what California’s legendary waves and towering cliffs can provide; yet all one has to do is reside in your own solar-powered home (and ignore the fact that you’re still connected to the grid). However, unlike surfing and rock climbing, household solar generation has become full-on mainstream. The edgy existential element is long gone. The state now even requires all new homes, with few exceptions, to include rooftop solar panels.
It’s worth noting that the 2006 legislation that helped spur the rooftop-solar boom declared the state’s intent to “install a generation capacity of 3,000 megawatts” and “to establish a self-sufficient solar industry in which solar energy systems are a viable mainstream option for both homes and businesses in 10 years.” Twenty years later, the cost of rooftop solar installations in California has declined considerably, and capacity has increased to almost 20,000 megawatts, yet the cost is still being subsidized by ratepayers without residential solar.
Despite the ubiquity of household solar in California now, some of the rustic romanticism of “do your own thing” by generating your own power remains. But one thing that should not remain is doing it at the expense of ratepayers getting power exclusively through utility service.
Kurt Schuparra worked for three governors and in the legislature and is the author of the book How the California Electricity Crisis Generated a Green Wave: An Insider’s Account.
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