The Golden State has historically led the nation with the highest installed solar capacity (with nearly 45% of all homes incorporating solar power), although Nevada, Texas, and Arizona continue to gain ground. Thanks to a new mandate, starting Jan. 1, 2020, California will continue its tradition as a renewables trailblazer when it becomes the first state in the country to require rooftop solar on all new-home construction. “This is an undeniably historic decision for the state and the U.S.,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), in a statement released in May of last year when the policy change was first announced. “California has long been our nation’s biggest solar champion, and its mass adoption of solar has generated huge economic and environmental benefits, including bringing tens of billions of dollars of investment into the state. Now, California is taking bold leadership again, recognizing that solar should be as commonplace as the front door that welcomes you home.”
Written by Freelance Writer Tom Zind, this month’s special report, “PV Pioneer,” takes a look at how this legislation is expected to help boost total residential solar deployment in the state 15% to 30% annually for the next few years — and what that will mean for homebuilders, solar installers, and electrical contractors. The solar requirement (folded into the 2019 update to California’s Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency Standards), Zind explains, marks the first time any state has put broad restrictions or prescriptions on how new homes are powered. “With some exceptions, it requires new or extensively renovated single-family or multi-family structures three stories and under to have fully functional rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) panels or be tied into community-scale solar PV arrays,” Zind writes. “The systems must be sized to provide all a structure’s electricity needs — enabling zero-net electricity status as opposed to zero-net-energy, because there’s no mandate for the required blend of fully electric design or other energy-saving home features that could achieve that.”
The quest to achieve net zero energy status in buildings continues to gain momentum — and the solar industry has the numbers to back up progress toward a fossil fuel-free future. According to data released in June by SEIA, the U.S. installed 2.7 GW of solar photovoltaics in the first three months of the year, making it the most solar ever installed in the first quarter of a year. This data comes from the new “U.S. Solar Market Insight Report” from Wood Mackenzie and SEIA, whom together announced in May that the U.S. hit the 2 million solar installation milestone during the first quarter of 2019 — 3 million installations are expected in 2021 and 4 million in 2023.
Despite the potential growth surge the upcoming solar mandate may provide in California, residential is still a small part of the market, given that the commercial, industrial, and institutional sectors comprise a much larger energy usage block where solar penetration has been minimal. However, the hope is this bold move by California could spur copycat legislation in other progressive states. It will be exciting to see how this all plays out. Interestingly, not all industry stakeholders support the mandate. In fact, some claim that residential rooftop solar is more expensive than its larger energy farm counterparts and that too much solar power generated during certain parts of the day could actually reduce the value of electricity and ultimately destabilize the grid. Depending on which side of the energy fence you sit, opinions vary. I’d like to hear your thoughts as we continue to cover what could be characterized as a renewable revolution.
