50 organizations support AB 2256 to keep rooftop solar growing in California

April 9, 2024

Re: Support for AB 2256 (Friedman): the true value of rooftop solar

We as the undersigned write in enthusiastic support of Assembly Bill 2256 (Friedman).  

We have the power to harness abundant renewable energy from the sun by installing solar panels on California’s rooftops. While we lead the nation in rooftop solar capacity, we’ve only taken advantage of 10% of the state’s rooftop solar potential so far. Rooftop solar energy is essential to helping California meet its goal of generating 100% clean electricity by 2045. 

Despite steady rooftop solar growth, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) slashed the state’s successful rooftop solar incentive program, Net Energy Metering (NEM), which caused the bottom to fall out of the rooftop solar market starting in 2023. New rooftop solar installations plummeted by 80% and the solar industry experienced significant job losses. 

NEM created robust incentives for rooftop solar and allowed California to reach Governor Schwarzenegger’s million solar roofs initiative, a significant step towards meeting California’s 2020 climate goals under AB 32. Four years later, California achieved its second million solar roofs milestone with the help of the NEM incentive. Now, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has projected that we need to double the amount of rooftop solar energy in California to allow us to meet our climate targets by 2045. However, California is now at risk of losing a valuable tool to tackle the climate emergency. 

The benefits of local rooftop solar generation include significant societal benefits, including: improved local air quality by displacing gas plants in environmental justice communities; increased resilience to extreme weather and power outages; local economic benefits (including rooftop solar installation jobs); and avoided land use impacts by decreasing the need for utility transmission infrastructure—which also keeps electricity bills down.

The CPUC gutted the NEM program in 2022 by omitting these important environmental and societal benefits of rooftop solar, leading to a drastically lower compensation rate for electricity that solar panel owners supply to the grid. AB 2256 would fix this problem and get us back on track to achieve our next climate targets by requiring the CPUC to consider the true value of rooftop solar, including its societal benefits.

Sincerely,

Steven King, Environment California

Roger Lin, Center for Biological Diversity

Bill Allayaud, Environmental Working Group

Jenn Engstrom, CALPIRG

Gregory Stevens, California Interfaith Power and Light

Glen Brand, Solar United Neighbors

Yvonne Elkin, Indivisible Resistance San Diego

Jose Torre-Bueno, Center for Community Energy

Susan Morgan, Indivisible Marin

Emily Brandt, San Joaquin Valley Democratic Club

Carly Rixham, American Solar Energy Society

Magi Amma, The Climate Alliance of Santa Cruz County

RL Miller, Climate Hawks Vote

Michael J. Painter, Californians for Western Wilderness

Pauline Seales, Santa Cruz Climate Action Network

Marian Sedio, North County Climate Change Alliance

David Diaz, Active San Gabriel Valley

Laura Neish, 350 Bay Area Action

Ronni Solman, SoCal 350 Climate Action

Maryam Dallawar, Sunrise Movement Orange County

Shoshana Wechsler, Sunflower Alliance

Jim Lindburg, Friends Committee on Legislation of California

Regina Banks, Lutheran Office of Public Policy-California

Cheryl Auger, Ban SUP (Single Use Plastic)

Suzanne Hume, CleanEarth4Kids.org

Johanna Speiser, Fridays for Future Orange County

Daniel Chandler, 350 Humboldt

Leah Redwood, Extinction Rebellion San Francisco Bay Area

Joan Gallagher, West LA Democratic Club

Woody Hastings, The Climate Center

Miriam Casey, Episcopal Diocese of Northern California

Kitty Adams, Adopt a Charger, Inc.

Katie Huffling, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

Derede Arthur, UC Santa Cruz Climate Coalition

Ector Olivares, Catholic Charities of Stockton

Andrea Leon-Grossmann, Vote Solar

Jan Dietrick, 350 Ventura County Climate Hub

Fran Pavley, USC Schwarzenegger Institute

Bart Ziegler, Samuel Lawrence Foundation

Alan Weiner, 350 Conejo / San Fernando Valley

Francisco Moreno-Castillo, COFEM- Consejo de Federaciones Mexicanas

Jessica Tovar, Local Clean Energy Alliance

Tom Wheeler, Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC)

Karinna Gonzalez, Hammond Climate Solutions Foundation

Todd Weber, Elders Climate Action (ECA) Northern California (NorCal) Chapter

Richard Burke, Elders Climate Action (ECA) Southern California (SoCal) Chapter

Catalina Gonzalez, Center for Progressive Reform

Susan George, Progressive Zionists of California

Clara Castronovo, CALPIRG Students

Crystal Huang, People Power Solar Cooperative