{"id":461429,"date":"2026-09-12T07:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T07:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/461429\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T07:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T07:34:10","slug":"ucla-study-sheds-light-on-californias-lack-of-community-solar-programs-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/461429\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA study sheds light on California\u2019s lack of community solar programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

California has more solar capacity than any other state, but residents can\u2019t access solar power for themselves without installing their own panels.<\/p>\n

But an August study<\/a> conducted by UCLA researchers found that California has failed to build a functioning community solar program, which would allow people to do just that. The dysfunction isn\u2019t because of technology, cost or demand, but because the state\u2019s regulators have declined to apply the same valuation tools used for other solar programs to community solar, the study found.<\/p>\n

Community solar programs allow subscribers to use a share of the power and savings generated by an offsite collection of solar panels. The programs can also strengthen the grid by storing energy to supply power during peak demand, according to the study.<\/p>\n

Unlike rooftop solar \u2013 which requires homeownership \u2013 or large-scale commercial solar \u2013 which requires major infrastructure \u2013 community solar functions as a model that can serve renters, small businesses and multifamily housing, said Sid Shah, one of the report\u2019s co-authors.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of these multifamily residences, a lot of these small businesses, a lot of these what I would call small-scale operations end up getting discounts from their community solar provider,\u201d said Shah, a doctoral student in environment and sustainability and former Daily Bruin staffer. \u201cIt really helps low-to-moderate-income consumers who are also conscious about their energy consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 44% of California\u2019s population are renters, compared to roughly 35% of the United States\u2019 population, according to the Public Policy Institute of California<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Renters \u2013 and anyone else who cannot install personal solar panels \u2013 are the most affected by California\u2019s lack of a functioning community solar project, said Megan Osawa, a graduate student in environmental engineering and chapter director of environmental club E3-Regenesis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re missing the point by excluding people with the highest energy burden, who represent a huge part of the population, from participating in clean energy,\u201d Osawa said. \u201cIf they can\u2019t own their property, they can\u2019t put solar on their roof. They should still be able to get access through community solar.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report centers on California\u2019s Avoided Cost Calculator, a tool the state developed to measure the benefits clean energy provides to the community\u2019s electrical grid \u2013 including reducing strain during high demand periods and decreasing costly infrastructure upgrades.<\/p>\n

Regulators have declined to use the tool to credit customers of community solar projects, a decision that prevents developers from financing and building these projects in the state, the report found. When valued properly, community solar can deliver savings on subscribers\u2019 bills and generate reliable returns, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Shah said in the report that he believes California\u2019s crediting model lags in comparison to those in New York, Maryland and Illinois \u2013 each of which has built a functioning community solar market by applying its version of the Avoided Cost Calculator for those projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole point of the report was to say that the state regulators have a lot of good examples to look at nationally to value these systems correctly,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Assembly Bill 1813 is a potential step toward expanding California\u2019s community solar projects, Shah said. The bill would evaluate whether community solar projects can give subscribers a discount on their electric bills using the Avoided Cost Calculator, rather than the lower wholesale rate.<\/p>\n

The bill also enables third-party developers \u2013 companies other than the state\u2019s investor-owned utilities, such as Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric \u2013 to build community solar projects, Shah said.<\/p>\n

AB 1813 has passed the Assembly and the Senate and now awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s signature by Sept. 30.<\/p>\n

Ansul Adhikari, a rising third-year environmental science student, said he was disappointed, but not surprised, by the report\u2019s findings of California\u2019s lack of community solar programming.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia does a pretty good job at our environmental regulation, \u2026 but to hear that our solar program hasn\u2019t gone off the ground as well as other states\u2019 have, it\u2019s disappointing,\u201d said Adhikari, the director of finance and a division leader in the International Urban Sustainability Student Corps. \u201cWe have the most people out of any state, biggest economy out of any state, so obviously, the money is there to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raising public awareness by working with environmental justice advocacy groups is the way to push regulators and lawmakers to act, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat needs to happen is they need to hear from communities,\u201d Adhikari said. \u201cWhen lawmakers see that people care about an issue, then they have no choice but to acknowledge it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California has more solar capacity than any other state, but residents can\u2019t access solar power for themselves without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-461429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}