In a major win for advocates of solar energy, the California Energy Commission updated the state’s 2019 Title 24, Part 6, Building Energy Efficiency Standards to require that rooftop solar panels be included on all residential buildings under three stories. The requirement will go into effect on January 1, 2020.
According to the CEC, more than 117,000 single-family homes and 47,000 low-rise multifamily units are forecast to be built in California in 2020. GTM Research projects a 14 percent increase in residential solar sales from 2020 through 2023.
While the cost of homes is projected to increase by about $9,500 on average, homeowners will save an estimated $19,000 in energy and maintenance costs over the lifespan of the solar installations.
In one CEC release, Commissioner Andrew McAllister touted the benefits posed by the mandate: “The buildings that Californians buy and live in will operate very efficiently while generating their own clean energy. They will cost less to operate, have healthy indoor air and provide a platform for ‘smart’ technologies that will propel the state even further down the road to a low emissions future.”
The CEC estimates that homes built under the 2019 standards will use about 53 percent less energy than those built under 2016 standards, reducing greenhouse gas emissions “by 700,000 metric tons over three years, equivalent to taking 115,000 fossil fuel cars off the road.” The 2019 standards will also include voluntary options to install smart technology to shift the energy use of the house from peak periods to off-peak periods.
According to Adam Browning, executive director of Vote Solar, the CEC’s cost estimates are conservative. Browning pointed to several factors that will further reduce the cost of rolling out so much solar. For one, solar panel providers won’t be spending nearly as much on customer acquisition. Companies will also be able to tackle larger projects at once, scheduling fewer total appointments and rolling out fewer trucks. In addition, the homes themselves will be more energy efficient, meaning smaller nanogrids will be required to achieve the same net carbon reduction as today’s retrofit projects.
In fact, part of the risk of such an undertaking will be the dangers posed to the grid by excess generation. When homes produce more power than they can use in the middle of the day, the remainder flows back to the central grid. The stability of the system could be jeopardized if utility companies are forced to navigate a steeper climb in usage when the sun goes down. Furthermore, producers are often only compensated pennies on the dollar for what that electricity is worth when they send it back to the grid.
Such a system will be an ideal use case for blockchain-enabled solar microgrids. Rather than curbing peak sunlight generation, communities connected to microgrids would benefit both individually and collectively from their excess electricity. For instance, the mandate only applies to residential buildings under three stories. What if those homes could also defray the usage of high-rise residential buildings downtown? Producers would receive fair market value for their solar power, which would still mean a discounted rate for the buyer. Most importantly, no sunlight would be wasted: communities would be fully empowered to harvest the abundant energy of the sun while ensuring a more resilient system at the same time.
Indeed, Erik Takayesu, director of grid modernization for Southern California Edison, pointed to transportation as another potential outlet, suggesting that subways and buses might use some of the power generated during peak sunlight hours.
“We are supportive,” Takayesu told Greentech Media. “When we look at what we need in the future to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to get to the state’s goals of 40 percent below 1990 levels, there needs to be a lot more carbon-free resources that supply energy to the grid, and so we think that this is one component of that.”
As far as the solar panels themselves, the Photonic Solar Conversion offered by Power2Peer and SunDensity would boost dramatically the amount of energy generated over the lifespan of the installation, and therefore the return on investment. Moreover, opting in to a microgrid network unlocks the profit-generating potential of these new homes. Ensuring that no energy is wasted will go a long way toward selling homes to the budget-conscious, and will greatly enhance the benefit to society which is at the heart of such green energy initiatives.
For more on PSC, microgrids, and the Power2Peer business model, download the white paper here, and stay tuned for more updates!
