The California state Assembly has voted to pass Senate Bill 868, a bill that would allow the state’s residents to use portable solar generation devices with up to 1,200 watts of output that plug into an electrical receptacle in a home or apartment.
The bill requires such devices to be used with the intent to offset the customer’s onsite electricity consumption and meet the standards of the most recent version of the National Electrical Code and the California Electrical Code. It also requires the systems to be certified by Underwriters Laboratories or an equivalent nationally recognized testing laboratory.
SB 868 would exempt users of these devices from requirements to file interconnection agreements with their local utility or to obtain the utility’s permission to use such devices, but it does allow a utility to require that customers notify it of their intent to use a plug-in solar device.
Notably, the text of SB 868 has been amended several times since the bill was introduced, adding language that removes as of January 1, 2030 the interconnection exemption and the rights of users to install the devices without utility permission.
The bill now heads to the Senate for concurrence on amendments made by the Assembly. If signed by the governor, the law would take effect on January 1, 2027.
Though the bill enjoyed broad support in both houses of the state legislature, it would not likely survive a veto by outgoing governor Gavin Newsom. Legislators in California have not attempted to override a governor’s veto since 1979.
Anticipation in the plug-in solar market
SB 868, which was introduced in January by Senator Scott Wiener, has become one of the most-watched pieces of plug-in solar legislation in the country. If passed, it would make California the eleventh state in the nation to enact such a law, opening a market for plug-in solar devices in the nation’s most populous state — and one where the cost of electricity is among the highest.
Both homeowners and renters could benefit from the ability to use plug-in solar devices to offset some of their consumption, potentially saving hundreds of dollars per year from a 1,200-watt setup as described in the bill.
SB 868 was backed by several prominent climate and energy groups, including the Environmental Working Group (EWG), The Sierra Club, Vote Solar, and nonprofit plug-in solar advocacy group Bright Saver.
In January 2026, Senator Wiener was joined by EWG California vice president Bernadette Del Chiaro and Bright Saver co-founder Cora Stryker in a webinar to celebrate the bill’s introduction and discuss the next steps.
“The nation is watching what happens in California,” said Stryker at the time. “If we get this across the finish line, the market will change permanently. We’ll have economies of scale. We’ll have manufacturers come into the American market, and it will never be the same.”
Following the bill’s passage out of the Assembly on August 25, EWG released a statement praising the state legislature’s efforts. “This is the most exciting clean energy idea around,” Del Chiaro said in the release. “With this bill, California is poised to fling its doors wide open to a real, tangible affordability solution for everyday consumers. Solar energy is a no-brainer for California and we applaud Sen. Wiener and his legislative colleagues for their hard work to put this critical clean energy solution on the governor’s desk.”
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