Solar energy installations aren’t making life easier for everyone, especially in California, where a unique, unforeseen problem has emerged due to the rapid rate of solar installations.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) — northern California’s main utility service company — is simply taking too long to connect solar energy installations to its power meters. Why? There are just too darn many.
According to the Press Democrat, PG&E is taking an average of three to four weeks to connect newly installed solar energy systems in northern California. Usually, the process would take ten days, tops. After a solar energy system has been designed and installed by a solar installation company, the local utility must typically sign off on the system and ensure that the interconnection between the meter and system is done correctly. Here’s a quick overview of the process for approving solar energy installations, via PG&E’s website:
Your solar contractor will schedule an appointment with your local building permit agency to have a certified building inspector approve the solar installation. Your solar contractor will send the building inspector’s final approval to PG&E. Following an on-site inspection and net energy meter installation by PG&E engineers, your new solar installation will be connected to the electric grid and clean, renewable solar energy will be powering your home or sent to the grid.
PG&E Spokesman Denny Boyles says the delay isn’t due to lack of effort. He says the utility company is making changes and adding manpower to address the problem. But the utility simply wasn’t expecting so many installations throughout their service area.
One main reason for the sudden surge is the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program (SCEIP), a solar incentive program that lets the county’s property owners finance solar energy systems through a property tax assessment. The financing approach — called more broadly, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing — was in July called into question when the federal government adopted a stricter stance toward PACE loans. Although Sonoma’s program has reopened, the county is still trying to reverse the federal government’s new rules, which caused a 40 percent decline in Sonoma solar installations during the first half of the year. Since SCEIP launched in 2009, it has helped finance some 790 projects.
The bottom line, it seems, is that PG&E is trying to keep pace with the rate at which new solar energy systems are coming on line. If California homes, wineries, farms and other businesses continue to install solar at a record clip, an expedited solution is much needed.
For the latest news and info on solar power in Sonoma, check out Solar Sonoma County’s twitter feed.
This is ultimately a sign that we’re heading in the right direction. Now doesn’t installing residential solar help the utility companies do their job with much less work? In that case aren’t they saving money that they should be cycling back into incentive programs? Thats what a smart company would do.