It’s time to save rooftop solar in California

Solar’s success is in jeopardy

More solar power is essential for California to meet its 100% clean energy requirement and transition away from dirty energy sources like oil and gas, which threaten our environment and our public health.

The state has a successful track record in deploying solar panels since 2006, when the landmark Million Solar Roofs Initiative was passed. Today, California has more installed solar capacity than any other state, and leads the nation in solar growth over the last decade. In 2022, we generated nine times as much solar power as we did a decade earlier in 2013. 

New signs of a serious solar slump

Despite the success of its long standing residential solar programs, recent changes to these incentives have caused a drastic decrease in rooftop solar sales this year. In December, 2022 the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to slash rooftop solar incentives for residential homes by approximately 75%. New data from the California Solar and Storage Association show that solar sales have decreased between 77% and 85% year over year since implementation in April, 2023. The association also reports that 17,000 jobs have or will be lost by the end of 2023 due to the CPUC’s decision.

The fate of rooftop solar in the Golden State could soon become even dimmer. In November, 2023, the CPUC voted to slash incentives for new rooftop solar installations on any building with multiple electric meters, including schools, farms, strip malls, and many apartment buildings. 

History shows that drastic cuts to rooftop solar incentives can cause solar installations to plummet, as evidenced by case studies in other states. California’s significant drop in solar sales indicates that the greatly diminished solar incentives are having a negative impact on our clean energy progress.

Toward a brighter future for solar

More rooftop solar benefits California and its people in many ways, and is a key tool in the fight against climate change. Installing more rooftop solar can increase renewable electricity generation while protecting the state’s open spaces and helping to make communities more resilient to global warming-related disruptions to the power grid.

California has enough sunshine to meet its energy needs many times over. Some of the best and most common sense places to put solar panels are in the built environment, where they can be built quickly utilizing existing infrastructure like residential rooftops. California also has tremendous solar potential on big commercial rooftops, parking lots, and land next to highways. In fact, covering all the rooftop space of California’s 66,000 warehouses and 10,000 superstores could produce enough clean energy to power close to 6 million homes annually in the state. There’s also plenty of untapped solar potential next to California’s highways: just three of the state’s 58 counties have enough suitable roadside land to power 270,000 homes with sun’s energy.

California’s policies should promote more solar on rooftops and elsewhere in the built environment, not discourage it. We need more solar on rooftops big and small, more parking lot solar, and more highway solar to stay on track for 100% clean energy and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Tell Governor Newsom: save rooftop solar