Category: California Solar

Rooftop-solar businesses in the Bay Area are reeling from a statewide change that gutted compensation for homeowners returning surplus power to the electrical grid. Sales of rooftop-solar setups have plummeted about 80% since the California Public Utilities Commission shrank by 75% the compensation new solar owners get for surplus power, the California Solar and Storage Association said. The shift has caused applications for new solar panels to plunge to a 10-year low. The group estimates that 2,700 jobs have been lost in the Bay Area and 17,000 statewide. About 2…

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Barry Cinnamon (right), owner of rooftop-solar-power company Cinnamon Energy Systems of Los Gatos, visits with his customer Selcuk Gun near dual battery units installed at his home in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) Bay Area rooftop-solar businesses are reeling from a statewide change that gutted compensation for homeowners returning surplus power to the electrical grid, causing applications for new solar to plunge to a 10-year low and leading to layoffs in an industry that had expected to lead the vanguard toward more sustainable,…

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