Thoughts on Solar

Some people are simply shameless, and it appears that the powers-that-be at SCE are among them. We just got this charming missive from the division at SCE that is responsible for processing Interconnection Applications:

Subject: Extended NEM Application Processing Timelines

Hello Contractors and Installers,

We are currently experiencing a high volume of new NEM applications. As a result, processing timelines are taking longer than expected. Please note, Interconnection Requests (IRs) may exceed our average processing timelines. Although most applications will be reviewed within 10 business days, some may take up to 20 business days to review.

To help mitigate this volume, we strongly recommend that you submit your application and the required documents in complete form, including all signatures and attachments. Ensuring that your applications are submitted in complete form helps us to minimize the number of touchpoints and reduce the application queue.

We request your cooperation and understanding as we work diligently in decreasing the application volume. Please refer to PowerClerk for the latest status of your application. If you have any additional questions, please send an email to Customer.Generation@sce.com.

Sincerely,

Eduyng Castano
Senior Manager of Customer Generation Programs
Southern California Edison

To deem this outrageous is to be way too kind. Gee, I wonder why there is a high volume of applications? Could it be because the bottom is dropping out of solar economics in SCE territory after the April 14th deadline? Who could have predicted that - apart from pretty much everyone who is paying attention. And how is it that SCE can unilaterally change the requirement for them to process applications? Doesn’t the CPUC have something to say about this?

The existing standard of 10 business days - two weeks on the calendar - was already a joke, but now they are saying that “some” applications could take 20 business days - nearly a month! Oh and to add insult to injury, they also raised the application fee - you know, the money that is supposed to cover application processing - by 25%! Must be nice to be able to jack the price that you are charging, while simultaneously reducing the service provided. Aren’t monopolies swell?

This is getting real folks. In an earlier post - find it here - we stated that we couldn’t guarantee NEM 2.0 for applications submitted after March 31st. But given this revision - and zero clarity on which applications might hit that 20-day limit, we need to push things up. RUN ON SUN WILL NOT GUARANTEE NEM 2.0 FOR ANY APPLICATION SUBMITTED AFTER MARCH 15! (The Ides of March indeed!)

This is a terrible way to run a business, but we have no control over the arbitrary nonsense coming from SCE. Please plan accordingly!

tl;dr - Come Rally with us on June 2, at 10:30 a.m. in Grand Park, DTLA!

As readers of this blog know only too well, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) had proposed - at the urging of the investor-owned utilities (IOUs), that is SCE, PG&E, and SDG&E - a new set of rules for how solar system owners would be compensated for the energy they put back onto the grid.  In a nutshell, that proposal would have pushed the payback period for solar systems to twenty years or more!  In an epic bit of organizing, our trade association - the California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA) - kicked up a ruckus that was clearly heard in Sacramento, by getting folks to sign petitions, issue public comments, testify to the CPUC for six hours straight, and two very loud, very colorful rallies in San Francisco and here in LA.  (If you missed that, you can read about the LA rally here.)

Thanks to those efforts, the original proposal was pulled back.  But that didn’t win the fight, as the CPUC is still talking about a Solar Tax that would destroy the value of rooftop solar for most Californians.

That’s why it’s time to lace up your protest shoes and attend the…

We need to more than double our impressive turnout from the last two rallies.  That means we need you!  And your kids.  And your friends.  And your kids friends - get the picture?

In case you need more detail - really, this is only about saving rooftop solar in California, so I wouldn’t think too many more details would be required but - let CALSSA’s Executive Director, Bernadette Del Chiaro, give you the Word:

On May 9, the CPUC took an unprecedented step of effectively issuing a new decision in the form of 14 questions. Those questions broke five months of silence, pulled back the curtain, and revealed what the CPUC is still thinking: tax solar and send the value of exports over a cliff. The CPUC has essentially floated a trial balloon to see how much push back they will get for proposing a solar tax (by a different name) and repackaging the solar cliff to make it sound nicer (ACC “plus”). Our job is to push back. Hard. Loud. Once and for all: No solar tax. No solar cliff. Not in California. Not now.

We need thousands of you. RSVP here.

Why June 2? For starters, because silence is acquiesce. Think about it. The State of California just floated a proposal to tax the behind-the-meter use of solar energy, again. Every day that goes by in which people aren’t reacting appropriately (i.e., freaking out), is a day in which the message back to our government is one of acceptance. That is certainly not our reality. If we could have, we would have rallied on May 10!
 
Another reason to rally on June 2 is because the CPUC has literally asked for our reaction to their “new” ideas: tax behind-the-meter solar consumption to the tune of $600 per year for the average customer (NOTE: the tax is not limited to the residential market – commercial market you could be caught up in this tragedy, too) and tie export values for everyone to the Avoided Cost Calculator which they have refused to adjust for the rising costs of natural gas, the crisis in the utility-scale market, and the demands of electrification. The CPUC has asked for our reaction by June 10. June 2 is simply the closest date to June 10 at which the CPUC is holding a meeting. The next meeting of the Commission is June 24 which would be too late.
 
Finally, there is never a good time to leave the office and come down off the roof. Collectively, we build more than 400 solar systems a day in California. That’s a lot of activity. And, with all the disruptions to supply chains along with the increased urgency due to this very campaign (ironically driving more people to solar than if they had promised to make gentle and gradual changes from the get-go), our days are busier and more complicated than ever. I get it. But what’s far more inconvenient and costly than shutting down your office for one day is closing your business or laying off half your staff in 2023 because the CPUC got NEM 3.0 horribly wrong. A stitch in time saves nine. Let’s save our market. RSPV now.
 
Finally, you might also be wondering why we should rally. Aren’t there other ways to make our voices heard? Of course the answer to that is, yes, there are many ways to make our voices heard. We are and should continue to speak out through petitions, letters to the governor, testimony that is being written by Brad now (to be submitted June 10), through media (like this question to Governor Newsom by Politico reporter last week), social media, and so much more. But to really be heard, we need to generate media attention too. We need to get on the nightly news and on the pages of the newspapers. Because when we do that, millions of voters hear our cry and we already know those millions are with us on the issue. 
 
It comes down to you reading this message and deciding to join the fray, the fun, the action. So, please join us in either Los Angeles or San Francisco on June 2. It will be worth your time. It will be fun. You’ll be glad you did it.
 
As always, email me with questions or comments.

p.s. Many people like to theorize about the likelihood of a Democratic governor in a pro-environment state harming the darling of the clean energy economy: solar. Putting aside the lack of understanding of how politics really works up here in Sacramento (hint: follow the money toward the path of least resistance), my ask to you is this: don’t leave this critical decision to political theory. Your active involvement in this campaign – most importantly joining us June 2 – will help make sure we win in reality, not just in theory. Let’s not leave anything this important to chance. Join us. 

This is up to us.  This is our fight.  Get in the game, people!  See you on June 2nd!

Today’s CPUC public comment period attracted more than 400 people looking to speak - each for no more than one minute.  Below are the prepared remarks of Run on Sun Founder and CEO, Jim Jenal.

My name is Jim Jenal, and I am the Founder and CEO of Run on Sun, a solar and storage installation company in Pasadena.

I saw the flier that SCE distributed in my service area proclaiming that the present NEM rules are “Making Billionaires & Big Businesses Rich” – and I just had to shake my head, as I really don’t know who they are talking about.

Run on Sun is a gross revenue, half-a-million a year company, not exactly a big business; and no, I’m not a millionaire, let alone a billionaire.  Nor is anyone I know in this industry.  Most of us are small, and scrapy, and are doing this because we believe in the mission: to make the world a better place – one roof at a time.

And after all, isn’t that what we all strive to achieve?  To make the world a better place for our kids?

The Proposed Decision does the opposite, and it needs to be scrapped.

(Editor’s note: this was all that could be presented in one minute.  The remainder of the prepared remarks continue below.)

SCE’s lying flyer distributed to rate payers.

The statements on SCE’s flier prove just one thing: the IOUs and their allies LIE.  They are lying to the public and to this Commission about what is at stake with this rule change.

My company, Run on Sun, has been in business since 2006 – we have weathered two massive recessions and survived a once in a century, global pandemic.  We went a full quarter in 2020 and didn’t book a nickel in revenue – but we are back, stronger than ever.

And why is that?  Because our clients want what we offer – independence.  Independence from the misrepresentations and mismanagement of SCE and its IOU counterparts.

We are a local company, roughly 60% of our business is in SCE territory.  After thousands of “kitchen table” conversations with prospective clients I can tell you that if the Proposed Decision is adopted, 80% of our SCE clients will NOT go forward.  A twenty-year payback period just doesn’t make sense for most folks.  Rather, the only ones who will go forward will be those for whom payback periods just don’t matter. 

Surely that won’t make going solar more equitable.

The Proposed Decision is a disaster for the rooftop solar industry, for our clients, and for California’s stated goal to be a leader in solving the Climate Crisis.

The Proposed Decision does the opposite.  It will decimate the rooftop solar industry in California, and send a terrible message to the rest of the country.

It needs to be scrapped, and replaced by a rule change that spurs the necessary expanding growth of the most successful solar and storage market in the country.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

On Thursday, January 13, 2022, the Run on Sun crew - and a few thousand of our friends and colleagues - got together at simultaneous rallies in Los Angeles and San Francisco.  Our message was simple: the Proposed Decision from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) would imperil thousands of solar jobs, drive up the cost for solar for everyone (truly meaning that only the most affluent could afford it), and frustrate California’s efforts to address Climate Change.  It is time for Governor Newsom to do more than suggest that the proposal, “needs some work."  In fact, the Proposed Decision needs to be scrapped in favor of a policy that will make solar more affordable for everyone.

Nearly two thousand people gathered in LA’s Grand Park to listen to CALSSA’s Policy Director,  Brad Heavner, and other speakers exhort the crowd to stand strong in solidarity against the CPUC’s disastrous proposal.  We then marched from the park the four blocks to the CPUC’s offices in DTLA.  Along the way we were greeted by cars honking in support of solar - including the driver of a Metro bus!

Here are some images from the rally:

Project Coordinator Amanda Watson puts the finishing touches on our signs!

Crowd at Grand Park listens to Brad and the other speakers.

Amanda’s colorful sign tells the story!

Making our voices heard outside the CPUC offices.

Amanda and Adrian flank Scanifly’s Chance Venable at the march’s end.

By any measure, the rallies were a success - but there’s still one metric to be determined: the final outcome! Of course, we will write about that as soon as we know more. Watch this space.

Anyone contacting Run on Sun in the past year or so has had the opportunity to speak with our Project Coordinator, Amanda Watson.  An avid cyclist - we seem to attract them! - and former racer, Amanda has thrown herself into her new gig with the same zeal that she demonstrated in her racing career.

While working in solar has a pretty steep learning curve, one aspect of how we do solar here at RoS is especially challenging - getting licensed and qualified to operate our drone.  Since we fly the drone commercially - we use it on site evaluations and for after-project photography - to operate it legally the Pilot in Command has to be licensed by the FAA (Part 107).  Central to getting licensed is passing the Part 107 written exam, which is no mean feat, requiring the student to master the complexities of sectional charts (one of the densest data visualizations ever created!), the arcana of acronym-dominated weather printouts, and a host of details that frankly, have way more to do with being an aircraft pilot than a drone pilot!

I am proud to report that this past week Amanda passed the exam on her first try with an 82 (70 is passing).  Once her license shows up she will be legal to operate the drone for us!  Of course, passing the test and getting your license doesn’t teach you how to operate the drone!  So earlier this week we went down to the Rose Bowl and Amanda got a chance to make her first flight in the park adjacent.  She did great!

 

Amanda at the controls of the RoS Mavic Air, Oscar!

Mastering the drone is just one step in Amanda’s evolution.  She is presently enrolled in courses at PCC, paving the way for her ultimate NABCEP certification! 

Way to go, Amanda, the sky is no longer a limit!