Celebrating a Solar Milestone with Big Clean Energy Implications

This milestone demonstrates the substantial opportunity we have to make use of this ample and clean energy source – the sun –  and the importance of this effort for all stakeholders to achieve California’s clean energy goals, which are among the most ambitious in the world.

Yesterday, I joined with Steve Malnight, vice president for customer energy solutions at PG&E, in writing an op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News laying out the enormous progress that’s  occurring in solar in California and the way we see the future.

The high points:

• NRDC and PG&E agree that solar is a key part of California’s energy future.
• Government, utilities, researchers, advocates and individuals can work together and avoid divisiveness to exploit this ample and clean energy source.
• An infrastructure is needed to support a surge in clean energy innovations.
• The electric transmission grid needs to be modernized.
• Policies and planning are needed to maximize the value of the grid.
• Clear regulations and stable policies at the state level help create an investment climate for a thriving green economy.

NRDC and PG&E often have different views on energy policy, but progress in the solar arena has brought us together as demand for solar grows.

In some states, thorny issues have pitted utilities against solar power companies and solar customers against non-solar. In California, we’re proud to do things differently. We’re committed to working with all stakeholders to strike a balance that enables us to succeed.

Malnight and I are convinced it’s possible to speed the deployment of solar power, energy efficiency, energy storage, electric vehicles, and other locally generated resources while improving the resiliency of the electric transmission grid and providing opportunities for all to enjoy the benefits of such technologies.

There are more than 2,000 new solar rooftops connected to PG&E’s grid every month – a testament to their growing popularity as prices fall. These panels send excess power onto the grid during sunlight hours and draw power from the grid at night.

But it’s not just about panels on rooftops.

Investments in solar power are increasing in many places including California. PG&E now has agreements to buy solar power from seven of the largest projects in the world. By 2020 almost 20 percent of the electricity PG&E’s customers use will come from solar sources. That is enough clean power from the sun to run more than 2 million homes.

Today’s electric grid – which was designed to receive and distribute power in old ways -- needs to be modernized to accommodate solar and wind energy as well as innovative technologies like electric cars and power storage technologies.

The cost structure of the grid is also challenging. Allocating costs fairly among customers is essential to help maintain its financial integrity.

Our electricity grid, deemed “the greatest invention of the 20th century” is now in a new century, facing new demands of its balancing act of physics and governance. Its challenge is to be able to continue to regulate supply and demand instantaneously, providing a shared resource for the benefit of all.

The solar revolution is an essential part of California’s effort to meet its Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which will help make our air cleaner and reduce carbon pollution in the atmosphere.

The target for this aggressive campaign is for one-third of the state’s electricity sales to come from renewable sources like solar and wind by the end of this decade. Achieving this goal will require the production of enough clean electricity to power nearly 9 million homes.

Despite the naysayers, success in meeting the RPS is within reach – as long as we continue to support investment in renewable and low-carbon energy resources like PG&E has done with solar.