• California's rooftop solar industry faces serious financial challenges despite generous state and federal subsidy support.
• The solar installation industry has been hit hard by the December 2022 cut in state subsidies for rooftop solar, eliminating an estimated 17,000 jobs, according to CalMatters. Demand has fallen by 80%.
• Ara Agopian, CEO of Solar Insure, which supports many solar power companies operating in California, said, “Recently, there has been a wave of bankruptcies among solar power installers, and we are looking forward to 2024. I think there will be a new wave in the first quarter of 2020,” he told PV Magazine USA.

Many rooftop solar panel companies in California are on the verge of bankruptcy, even though the industry receives generous state and federal subsidies.

A spokesperson for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the state's electricity regulator, said the state has long provided generous funding of up to $6 billion annually to the rooftop solar industry to encourage green energy development. A spokesperson for the state's Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said that the subsidy had been provided. Caller News Foundation. Now that state subsidies are starting to dry up, rooftop solar companies in California are struggling so much that one insurance company estimates that about 75% of affected companies in the state are at high risk of bankruptcy. It is estimated that according to To PV Magazine USA.

The state's rooftop solar industry is Subsidy Rooftop solar companies across California are struggling to survive in the wake of President Joe Biden's signature bill, the Inflation Control Act (IRA), which includes $370 billion in green energy spending. (Related: California spends more than $600 million on environmental review of yet-to-be-built high-speed rail)

Ara Agopian, CEO of Solar Insure, which supports many solar power companies operating in California, said, “Recently, there has been a wave of bankruptcies among solar power installers, and we are looking forward to 2024. I think there will be a new wave in the first quarter of 2020,” he told PV Magazine USA.

The state effectively pays for rooftop solar installations, maintaining through the end of 2022 a program that pays Californians for excess solar power that rooftop panels send back to the grid at above-market rates. In December 2022, the CPUC resolved to reduce its compensation by approximately 75%, and the authority began implementing this decision in practice in April 2023. according to To CalMatters.

“Since 2006, California has contributed more to the solar industry than any other state in the nation by providing billions of dollars in rebates and incentives,” a CPUC spokesperson said in a statement to the DCNF. told. “However, this assistance comes at a cost to California ratepayers, who continue to pay a premium to businesses and individuals who own rooftop solar systems, which are added to customers' bills. To reduce additional costs, the CPUC updated net energy metering rates for investor-owned utilities in December 2022. This update brings subsidies for rooftop solar customers in line with those in other states. Now more consistent with lower subsidy levels.”

The CPUC, an independent consumer advocacy organization, says, “Customers who don't have solar power pay nearly $68 per year to customers who already have solar power through subsidies taken from their electricity bills. billions of dollars,” a CPUC spokesperson told DCNF.

Supporters of the rule change argued that it would unfairly benefit the wealthy, allowing them to receive subsidies for expensive solar panels and shift the cost of maintaining the power grid to less wealthy people. . according to In the New York Times.

The rooftop solar industry, meanwhile, blames the subsidy cuts and says it is primarily responsible for the industry's widespread woes in the state. Demand for solar installations has fallen by about 80% since the CPUC opted to cut home solar payments, and the industry may have seen that. 17,000 jobs lost by the end of 2023, according to To CalMatters.

“The market is in the gutter,” Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar and Energy Storage Association trade group, told CalMatters. “It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. If you're a company and the market plummets by 80%, you have to lay off people with great pain. Some companies are closing their doors. .”

California is aim The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by 2045, but the decision to change subsidy guidelines for rooftop solar PV could threaten that goal if the industry's struggles continue or intensify. California Matters reported.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office referred DCNF to the CPUC when asked for comment.

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