Community Solar in California

Background

Since 2007, California has dedicated over $1 billion towards low-income and community renewable energy programs. The state’s low-income rooftop solar, low-income multifamily solar, and community solar programs have resulted in over 13,365 approved projects and 430 MW of solar capacity online or in process. The Single-family Solar Homes (SASH) Program was launched in 2007 and the Multifamily Affordable Solar Homes (MASH) Program a year later to focus on low-income and affordable housing solar incentives. New versions of the programs focusing on customers in disadvantaged community (DAC) census tracts were launched in 2015 with the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program and in 2018 with the DAC Single-family Solar Homes (DAC-SASH) program. A suite of community solar programs were also launched during this time period for general market customers (the Green Tariff Shared Renewables program) and for low-income renters in DAC census tracts (DAC Green Tariff and Community Solar Green Tariff).

Proceeding A.22-05-022 launched in May 2022 and pursuant to AB 2316 (Ward, 2022) and PUC Section 769.3, reviewed existing Community Solar programs including the Disadvantaged Communities Green Tariff (DAC-GT), Community Solar Green Tariff (CSGT).  Enhanced Community Renewables (ECR), and Green Tariff (GT) programs.  In a May 2024 Decision, after a lengthy evaluation of a variety of program designs, the CPUC discontinued its CSGT and ECR programs and improved the DAC-GT and GT programs, and launched a new Community Renewable Energy (CRE) Program that avoids shifting costs to non-participating ratepayers.  Implementation details of the Modified GT and CRE Programs will be finalized in a second decision expected by January 1, 2026

Current Proceeding Events

How to Participate in this Proceeding

Visit the CPUC's brochures webpage to find information on what happens in a proceeding, informal and formal participation, making public comments, participation at hearings and workshops, the CPUC's Intervenor Compensation Program, and ex parte communications with CPUC decisionmakers.

Official filings are posted on the A.22-05-022 docket card.  To be notified of new documents, sign up for the proceeding's service list here.

Community Renewable Energy Subscription Programs

Subsidized Programs

The DAC Green Tariff enables income-qualified, utility or Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) residential customers in DACs who may be unable to install solar on their roof to benefit from a pool of grid scale clean energy projects and receive a 20 percent bill discount. The program is modeled after the existing Green Tariff portion of the Green Tariff Shared Renewables Programs and is available to customers who meet the income eligibility requirements for the CARE and FERA programs. The program has a capacity cap of 233 MW and has enrolled approximately 30,000 customers to date.

The Community Solar Green Tariff enables utility and CCA residential customers in DACs who may be unable to install solar on their roof to benefit from a local solar project and receive a 20 percent bill discount. The communities work with a local non-profit or government sponsor to organize community interest and present siting locations to the utility or CCA; the sponsor can also receive an incentive for its efforts. Clean Power Alliance continues to administer the program. Decision 24-05-065, issued June 2024, discontinued the bulk of the program and transferred the remaining capacity to the DAC-GT program.

Market-Rate Programs

The Green Tariff (GT) program allows customers of any income level, as well as commercial customers to subscribe to a pool of community solar projects without any cross-subsidies from other customers. Through GT, a customer may pay the difference between their current generation charge and the cost of procuring 50 to 100 percent renewables.  The GT has a capacity cap of 562 megawatts (MW) statewide.

Other Community Renewable Energy & Low-Income Solar Programs

Disadvantaged Communities Single-family Solar Homes (DAC-SASH): Enables income-qualified homeowners in DACs to receive no-cost rooftop solar installations.

Renewable Energy Self-Generation Bill Credit Transfer (RES-BCT): Enables local governments, including tribal governments, school districts and universities to share generation credits from a system located on one government-owned property with billing accounts at other government-owned properties.

Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH): Provides incentives for solar energy photovoltaic systems for multifamily affordable housing.

Virtual Net Energy Metering or Virtual Net Billing Tariffs (VNEM or VNBT): Enables property owners to share benefits of an onsite renewable electrical generation facility with their tenants and common areas on a single eligible, contiguous property.