By Judith Shadzi, VP of Cosmic Solar
Sometimes we forget how lucky we are to live among the orchards in southern California. We recently took a month long trip to visit family we hadn’t seen during the pandemic. They all lived in the city and it really brought home the value of walking in the grove and eating organic fruit right off the trees, and now it is spring, the time to plant vegetable gardens. The Valley Center Nursery can actually tell you which vegetables can be grown at different times of the year. Because of the weather we have a 12 month growing season in this area.
Mid March I stopped at a North County Nursery and picked up plants for our vegetable garden to get an early start planting. One rule in North County is to build a garden cage for your vegetable plants. The only way to keep out the moles, voles, gophers, squirrels, and rabbits is to block them in every direction. First the wire is laid out on the ground and then the sides and roof of the same wire is installed. Then the ground wire is brought up the sides so no animal can squeeze through. Our garden cage is 12 by 17 feet. Now we just plant, add water and then fertilize from our home compost pile.
The roof of our home and our guesthouse holds solar panels that power our home and garden. The solar powers all our electricity including our pump for irrigation, our electric cars, and even the lights and fan for our chicken coop. There are now many garden tools which have rechargeable batteries or electric cords. These would also be powered by the solar system.
We started our business in North County where many home owners have plenty of land so we became proficient at building solar ground racks from day one. Solar powers the pumps for the wells that water the many orchards and vineyards in this area. Under one end of the solar ground rack there is usually room for sheltering small gardening equipment.
If your home has more than one electric meter, one for the house and another for the orchard’s well pump, they can be aggregated. The solar system would be connected to the main meter and the second meter can be aggregated, which means the two meters will share the energy the solar system produces. Up to ten meters can be aggregated together. The solar system will be tied into the utilities grid by Net Metering.
For the last 12 plus years, homeowners, orchards and small businesses have been installing solar with great success. It is an investment that can save thousands of dollars over the long run. We have had a saying, “Give your roof a day job”. Over a million Californians have invested in solar and rooftop solar could save Americans $473 billion.
From day one the utilities have tried to limit the number of homes and businesses that are allowed to have their own solar systems, but they must work with the California Public Utilities Commission. Despite many battles defending solar, what is called the rooftop solar industry has been booming. Rooftop solar makes the most sense as far as utility and the environment. That is why they call it clean energy. The generation does not have to travel far distances through those high electric towers but is instead producing where it is being utilized. If there is extra generation it gets shared with the neighbors in exchange for a bill credit.
Utilities power plants are far out of town and far from where the power is being used. There is only one problem for the utilities is that they are not making as much money off of their customers as they were before. That is why they are trying to find ways to stop rooftop solar.
They want to build their own solar farms out in the hills and in the deserts and again bring it all through the tall electric towers and charge their customers higher prices like they have always been able to do.
A new law, Assembly Bill 1139, has been introduced which would kill rooftop solar for Californians. It is proposing partnerships with the utilities and they would build solar farms and charge the consumer maintenance fees and taxes and give them a discount on their bill. It is not a good deal for the consumer and would not allow everyday families or businesses to install and have solar net metering. It would put a good portion of the 800+ solar companies out of business, leave thousands unemployed, and make it nearly impossible to meet our state’s 100% clean energy goals.
This is powerful money and big business again taking charge of an industry, and not allowing the everyday people to share in the benefits. It doesn’t make sense environmentally to cover land with solar panels when there are empty roofs that can accommodate solar panels. People with rooftop solar are funding their own systems. We all know solar farms are going to be needed but they should not be the first option.
Assembly Bill 1139 will go beyond even what the utilities are proposing on NEM, obliterating the market for rooftop solar. The bill has gone up for hearing on April 21st. 56 organizations are joining in opposition including Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Advanced Energy Economy, Vote Solar, Environment California, and Solar Energies Industry Association (SEIA). If we as a public want solar available to the people we need to speak out now. You can help by going to the website savecaliforniasolar.org and go to the bottom of the page and sign the petition to save rooftop solar for the people of California.
