California Solar Power Welfare State A Messy Garden

In “California’s Solar-Power Welfare State” the WSJ mocked how it’s “the rich & famous [who] object to a rollback of subsidies for home solar power” financially benefitting THEM, even though the economic, social & environmental benefits for many others have largely been debunked.

Opined the editors: “The dirty little secret about green energy subsidies is that they are welfare for the wealthy. And like any entitlement, they are hard to reform once people get hooked. Witness a revolt by the rich against a California proposal to scale back subsidies for rooftop-solar panels,” most of which are manufactured one way or another in Asia & via fossil fuel energy. But, that’s another story. In this case, “at issue is the state’s net-metering program that rebates homeowners with solar panels for the excess power they generate and send to the grid. Utilities compensate solar customers at the retail electricity rate, which can be up to 10 times the wholesale price other power generators are paid.”

Not only is the current system wasteful, its expensive, as “retail rates … have increased 50% over the last decade as utilities HAVE HAD to spend more to integrate renewables into the grid and harden power lines.” Then, again, California’s cap-and-trade program and “public purpose programs” like battery subsidies have also raised retail rates. End result: Rich “solar customers [get to] use the grid to consume and export power … yet, they avoid much of the grid costs, which are shifted to other customers.” It’s complicated. It’s a mess. Much like the environment.

Davd Soul