Posted on 12/05/2015 9:03:37 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
California has stunned green advocates, by excluding rooftop solar from their renewable energy mandate.
According to the LA Times;
California’s aggressive push to increase renewable energy production comes with a catch for people with solar panels on the roof: You don’t count.
If a home or business has a rooftop solar system, most of the wattage isn’t included in the ambitious requirement to generate half of the state’s electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2030, part of legislation signed in October by Gov. Jerry Brown.
That means rooftop solar owners are missing out on a potentially lucrative subsidy that is paid to utilities and developers of big power projects.
It also means that utility ratepayers could end up overpaying for clean electricity to meet the state’s benchmark because lawmakers, by excluding rooftop solar, left out the source of more than a third of the state’s solar power.
Owners of rooftop solar systems and their advocates aren’t happy about the policy.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar-subsidy-20151130-story.html
LA Times speculates that this shift in policy was due to pressure from utilities and unions – rooftop solar installers are not extensively unionised, compared to workers in large solar utility plants.
Whatever the reason for this unexpected development, one thing is clear; even über green California cannot be trusted to provide a stable renewables subsidy regime. If you invest in renewables, you’re taking a big risk.
Ratepayers were subsidizing a money losing proposition.
The solar subsidies amount to the people that can’t afford solar panels subsidizing the ones on rich elitist snobs houses giving them green credentials to brag about at cocktail parties.
One of our younger relatives is an exec with a heavy duty construction business dealing with large size businesses and local governments, who pay cash for their construction projects.
For about two decades, he has advised all potential clients and current clients to never put any rooftop solar on their roofs as it is not financially sustainable without the massive subsidizing from California and the Feds..
He has given his family and friends the same advice.
His message is simple. If and when solar becomes a viable/economical option, PG&E will beg homeowners, local governments and businesses to allow PG&E to install for free rooftop solar systems and pay the roof owners a fee for the installation besides free electricity for the life of the solar systems.
He is in 40’s and doesn’t see that happening in his lifetime with his ancestors reaching ages of 80-90.
When our house goes,, it goes as is,, no solar panels.. with a functional fireplace.
California is a test tube full of crap and the greens are the mad scientists cooking up the next batch of crap.. to cover for their last batch of crap.
And they also fly private jets to the Sundance film festival or Davos Switzerland, spewing copious amounts of carbon dioxide, lamenting the pseudo-fact that we mere peons are polluting the air with carbon dioxide.
Exactly right. Rates rise subsidizing all the little “green” projects.
Thanks Ernest.
My 300 watt hobbyist solar system (power for sheds and emergencies) was putting out all of 11 watts at noon Friday when we were socked in. About enough power to run the meter and that was it. Great in late spring and early summer, though, with the long, clear days we have then.
Man! You sure know how to lay it out straight!! Encore!!!
I remember all the beautiful threads you started during the stoopid CA energy crisis during the failed Gray Davis the Dim Bulb administration!!!
Those were the days my Friend! We thought they'd never end!! But they sure did!!!
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