California Senate passes industry-backed community solar bill

California's State Senate has passed AB 1813, the Community Renewable Energy Program Act, which now needs one procedural step in the Assembly before heading to Governor Newsom's desk. The bill aims to finally deliver on community solar in California — a setup that lets people who cannot install rooftop solar, like renters or those in shared buildings, subscribe to a shared solar and battery storage project nearby and get credit on their electric bill. California passed a law for this back in 2022, but the state's utility regulator never got a working program off the ground, and no projects have come online since.

AB 1813 tries to fix that by requiring regulators to value these projects fairly and by requiring battery storage be paired with the solar, so the power is available when the grid needs it most, like summer evenings. Supporters project subscribers could save around $190 a year on average, and closer to $250 a year for low-income households, with no added costs passed on to people who don't subscribe. A majority of projects would be required to serve low-income subscribers.

If signed into law, this could open a new way for homeowners and renters without suitable roofs for solar panels to still get cheaper, cleaner electricity through a subscription rather than an installation. Whether and when actual projects appear will depend on how the program gets built out after the bill becomes law, so there's nothing to sign up for yet.