Dive Brief:
- A proposed decision from the California PUC pushes utilities on the installation of storage systems for homes and business distributed solar. It exempts storage for distributed solar of less than ten kilowatts from the review and interconnection studies imposed by SCE, PG&E, and SDG&E that are costing system owners fees of from $1,400 to $3,700.
- California’s three IOUs say the information obtained by the studies assures safety and prevents grid electricity from being stored and resold to the grid along with solar-generated electricity. The CPUC’s decision requires utilities to accept the system monitor’s readings.
- SolarCity complained that only twelve of 500 planned solar-and-storage systems had been connected to the grid and stopped its applications. The impediments extended average interconnection wait time to eight months, according to SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive. Over ten megawatts of capacity were on hold, according to CPUC President Michael Peevey.
- SolarCity co-founder/CTO Peter Rive said that with the CPUC decision the company has resumed applying for new installations.
Dive Insight:
SolarCity partner Tesla Motors supplies batteries for its home installations. Stem, Green Charge Networks and Coda Energy will supply batteries for SolarCity's newer commercial scale program.
Solar advocates say solar with storage will enhance grid operations and reduce costs. Utilities worry that revenues lost to the large amounts of electricity produced and used by such systems will shift significant costs to non-solar-owning ratepayers.
California has mandated that its IOUs install 1.3 gigawatts of storage, including customer-sited storage, by 2020.
