Assemblywoman Who Said “F*** Elon Musk” Backs A Proposal To Kill Rooftop Solar In California

You may remember the controversial and rude statement from California’s Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (District 80) from last year regarding Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, which specializes in both electric vehicles and home energy solutions that include rooftop solar. Recently, Gonzalez not only backed but amended AB 1139, which could bring the state’s rooftop solar and storage market to a halt.

The bill, nicknamed the “Anti-Solar Bill,” would kill the net energy metering policy that has allowed rooftop solar to grow sustainably

Introduce new “grid access” monthly charge that will add $50–$86/month for the typical residential solar use.

From your link:

“If the CPUC decides to compensate all rooftop solar generation at the avoided cost, rooftop PV becomes cost-effective in just five of the 16 climate zones. But that would be a pretty radical policy change for the nation’s leading solar market, and a difficult one to justify in light of the new solar mandate. “Such a stark reform may not be likely within the timeframe of this code cycle, but this sensitivity serves as a lower bound for potential NEM reforms,” the E3 paper notes.”

Also, note that grid-tied systems usually do NOT function when the grid power is down, bright sunshine, and no electricity!
A few have a dedicated circuit ~2kW, otherwise, it is a big fat extra.

And again who pays for all the solar systems that receive a rebate for unused power at RETAIL rates??? Not simply the avoided cost?

—”They’re not floating off the grid if they are contributing to power to it.”

And that is why they call it a grid-tied system.

Systems not connected to any external grid are usually called island solar systems.

—”Aren’t the solar power people charged for access to the grid?”
That changes every day as the utility and local non-solar users wise up on the free riders.
On my bill, the charges for actual power used is about 40% of the total.

https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2020/03/which-states-offer-net-metering/

"Who is paying to maintain the grid, you only use it on odd occasions? The solar people become free riders."

"They’d have two ways to pay, with money or by contributing their unused power to the supply grid. They’re not floating off the grid if they are contributing to power to it."

Yes and no. It depends on if you choose to make an agreement with the power company. Basically your options are:

1 - Sell your unused solar power back to the power company. If you do you also have to pay the monthly fee (us solar users call it the "solar tax", but non-solar users have a legitimate gripe in saying all of us should pay some to maintain the lines for the 10% or so of our power we use from the grid). This option is good only if your power company doesn't charge a large monthly fee and does give you a decent buyback rate. Companies that do this (or states that force the power companies do this) are referred to as using "net metering".

2 - The other option is to not sell back your power to the grid. You don't pay a monthly fee, nor do you get the measly 2 to 3 cents per kWh you sell back to the grid because you're not selling it back. That excess power is simply lost. And your net gain of buying solar is a reduction in your power bill (less power used because you're supplying your own, and perhaps you're using less power during peak times).

Here in Alabama we don't have net metering so I'm doing Option 2. If things keep going like they're going (my system keeps doing well, and power rates rise roughly 2% to 3% per year inflation), I'll make my money back in 10 to 12 years. If, however, Chancellor Biden and Queen Kamala keep raising energy prices (their so-so fracking ban already has natural gas price about 40% higher than it was this time last year, and their green energy bill might force my power company to spend tons on green energy and pass the cost onto customers like already happens in states that force it), then I'll make my money back in shorter time. Plus, I sleep peacefully knowing that if electricity rates go way high it doesn't impact me much. Basically, I'm doing solar in a more libertarian way than a tree huggin' way.

If things get really bad I'll buy a small generator to get me through the few times my solar power and battery backup doesn't power the house and I'll tell the power company to kiss my ChristianFreeAmericanHairyWhiteUnsodomizedNeverVotedForThePartyOfSlaveryAndSegregation butt.

—”2 - The other option is to not sell back your power to the grid. You don’t pay a monthly fee,”

Do you use an inverter with ZERO EXPORT, AKA No Export or limited inverter?

Here in Illinois, the state is always looking to suck more money from your wallet.

Also, the Commonwealth Edison OWNS THE NORTH HALF OF THE STATE.
Recall 0bama buddy Ayers...the weather underground bomber... ALL CHARGERS DROPPED BECAUSE OF SOME FBI BS... his father was the very long-time CEO of com ed.
Com ed was just caught in a bribe scandal and agreed to pay $200 MILLION fine straight from the ratepayer’s pocket.
Com ed’ puppet the FOREVER speaker of the house Madigan just resigned.

Commonwealth Edison... the largest ... Illinois landholder, employer, bribe payer...

I have been looking at solar, but the BS is so deep and the inspections might cost as much as the panels!!!
Only the first 500 can use net metering...

Plus I have some very nice trees...

The survivor of this terrible event attends my daughter’s church, massively disfigured, but I have seen him smile!

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-comed-electrocution-oversight-illinois-20190912-vwb4r2isgnbs3coxc45ljjvmbu-story.html

I do have a zero report inverter. I also have a separate circuit panel for my main and my secondary. Both panels are powered when the grid is up, even when all of my power is coming from solar. But when the grid is down my secondary panel gets no power because it’s tied directly to the grid. My inverter won’t power those circuits (to protect the line workers) unless I flip a manual switch to connect the two panels, flip another switch to disconnect from the grid, and put my inverter in full off grid mode.

Thank you, I’m looking at installing a small zero-net system.

I installed wattmeters on L1 and L2 incoming electric mains to track my usage, the average is 20.1 kW total per 24 hr
The daylight average is less than 1kW per hour even in the heating season.
My wife and I installed heated floors in our 100-year-old house, the gas boiler and 2 small pumps use less than 300 Watts but will run 24/7 when the temperature is less than 10 degrees.
Thinking, I installed the AC around 1990!!! Still runs well!
Because we have some large beautiful trees, we seldom use the AC.
When we do turn the AC on, the meter spins so fast, you can use it for a meat slicer.

So far the numbers point to a small system of about 1kW, and if needed I can add more panels.

From the cold temperatures you describe, I'm assuming you live up north. That changes the math on solar in a couple of ways.

For starters, you get less sunlight than I do in the south -- less solar energy to convert into electricity. I get 4 peak sun hours per day. https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/peak-sun-hours-explained

Another factor is, I read that the rated wattage from your panels increase by 5 to 10% when they get below freezing. I'm not sure how accurate that is.

Another thing is you do most of your power consumption in the evening in the winter when it's cold, even with a boiler (at least I imagine you do). That means you need power most when there's less sun, compared to me needing power most when there's tons of sun (during hot summer days to run the A/C when the sun's up for many hours). So backup battery power is more crucial for you than me.

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