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City of Solana Beach Becomes a Statewide Leader Standing up for Rooftop Solar

Policy
Image of sunset over a roof mounted solar system

On September 8, the City of Solana Beach became the second jurisdiction in the Golden State to approve a resolution standing up for rooftop solar, sending a strong message to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which will be making a decision later this year on changes to the net energy metering policy in California.  The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved a similar resolution earlier this year. Net energy metering is a billing arrangement between rooftop solar producers and their energy providers that credit customers with the excess energy they send back to the grid and debits customers for energy taken from the grid.  This agreement is what has allowed solar to become increasingly accessible to working-class families, small businesses, cities, schools and nonprofit organizations. 


The resolution urging the CPUC to make changes that will keep solar growing sustainably while expanding solar access to low-and-moderate income communities was approved unanimously by the Solana Beach City Council members in a 5-0 vote after hearing public comments overwhelmingly in support of passing the resolution.  Local organizations Climate Action Campaign, SanDiego350 and CleanEarth4Kids joined the Hammond Climate Solutions team along with residents from Solana Beach and the Solar Rights Alliance in calling in to make public comments, letting the Solana Beach City Council know they were in full support of the resolution.  Many others submitted written comments in support of the resolution. 


The only comment that wasn’t emphatically in support of the resolution was unsurprisingly from a San Diego Gas & Electric employee, and the other speakers addressed SDG&E’s disingenuous equity arguments, which council members acknowledged were passionately and accurately relayed. 


“SDG&E and Sempra are trying to mislead the public by citing studies that lack credibility to eliminate rooftop solar, a cost-effective, proven solution that reduces climate racism in California and slows the climate crisis, which often impacts communities of concern first and worst - all of this is to increase their profits,” said Tara Hammond, Hammond Climate Solution’s founder and CEO, “Don’t be fooled by their greenwashing campaigns and disingenuous concerns about equity and raising rates.  It’s proven that rooftop solar reduces rates for all ratepayers and is a net benefit to society.”


In the resolution, the City of Solana Beach “urges the CPUC to strengthen NEM to expand access to all households, particularly of low-and-moderate income; expand access to other clean energy technologies that pair with solar, such as batteries; ensure that the solar installations continue to grow in order to meet State and City climate goals; and exclude provisions set forth in the investor-owned utility companies’ proposal such has high monthly fixed fees, and reducing or eliminating credits for sharing electricity with the power grid.” 


The success of rooftop solar relies heavily on a strong net energy metering, and drastic changes that are being proposed by California’s three investor-owned utility companies have the ability to completely disrupt solar adoption across the state.  Slowing down the transition to clean energy means that we will continue to need more dirty energy to meet our needs which will not only further exacerbate the climate crisis but also climate injustices caused by dirty energy, mainly fracked methane gas.  Beyond the environmental benefits clean energy provides, rooftop solar reduces rates for all ratepayers (estimated by Vibrant Energy to the tune of $120 billion for Californians), strengthens the energy grid when paired with storage, provides local green jobs and reduces the risk of wildfires. 


The decision to approve the resolution comes right after President Joe Biden’s administration released a blueprint to produce 45 percent of the nation’s electricity through solar energy by 2050 as a critical part of the effort to fight climate change.  Meeting this goal will require the U.S. to install an average of 30 GW of solar capacity per year between now and 2025 and 60 GW per year from 2025-2030.  If the utility companies are successful in making drastic cuts to net energy metering in California, the nation’s top solar state, meeting this ambitious goal will likely not be possible. 


As the net energy metering proceeding is heating up at the CPUC during the current proceeding where a proposed decision is expected in November and a final decision is expected in January, more organizations and elected officials are publicly coming out in support of a strong net energy metering that will keep rooftop solar growing. 


Just last month, San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo released a letter he sent to Governor Gavin Newsom and the CPUC commissioners stating “Please protect NEM. Drastic changes by the California Public Utilities Commission will negatively impact customers, perpetrate environmental injustices, accelerate the climate crisis, and shatter California’s clean energy industry.”  Last week Business for Good San Diego released a letter supporting net metering.  Many San Diego organizations are a part of a statewide coalition of 347 organizations ranging from small business to equity to climate advocacy groups representing a true grassroots movement, which recently issued a statement of support to protect rooftop solar in California. 


With the City of Solana Beach leading the way for Southern California, local activists and organizations are pushing for other cities in the region to adopt similar resolutions and send a strong message to commissioners.  Tomorrow, the San Diego Community Power Community Advisory Committee will vote on a net energy metering letter, and on Monday the City of Chula Vista will discuss the future of net energy metering at its Sustainability Commission meeting. 


Other cities and organizations are expected to speak out as well since the stakes are so high.  Ending rooftop solar would impact regional Climate Action Plans’ 100 percent clean energy targets and local community choice energy programs while taking away future opportunities for San Diegans to go solar and exacerbating the climate crisis. 


For latest information and up-to-date calls to action, visit our net metering toolkit

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Hammond Climate Solutions representative speaking at a Green New Deal press event

Climate Policy Action - 2021 Highlights

This year’s clean energy and climate justice policy advocacy was filled with ups, downs, wins and loses but the Hammond Climate Solutions team is grateful for the strides we were able to help with to ensure a just and livable future for all. Here is a look back on our policy work in 2021, much of which was done with various partners that we’re grateful to be working with.

This year’s clean energy and climate justice policy advocacy was filled with ups, downs, wins and loses but the Hammond Climate Solutions team is grateful for the strides we were able to help with to ensure a just and livable future for all.  Here is a look back on our policy work in 2021, much of which was done with various partners that we’re grateful to be working with.


Our policy advocacy kicked off with the introduction of California Assembly Bill 1139 (AB 1139), introduced by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez in February 2021.  The bill is the most aggressive solar attack to date, and it would have made drastic changes to the rules for California’s net energy metering (NEM), the solar agreement, which would have resulted in payback periods for rooftop solar investments of over 45 years.  In addition to changes for new solar producers, the bill proposed these changes for all existing customers as well, changing the presumed protections for over 1.3 million solar producers statewide.  Our advocacy included meeting with the author of the bill and sponsors to advocate for changes, rallying voices in opposition when the bill was introduced in assembly committees and presentations to local and statewide organizations to collect sign-ons for multiple letters.  Thankfully, we were successful in defeating the bill and in rallying enough opposition locally that none of the six assembly members representing San Diego County, aside from the bill’s author, voted yes.  This was a huge victory as rooftop solar and energy storage is a key solution to stopping the climate crisis, lessening environmental racism, providing grid resilience and supporting green jobs! 


In between the small wins and fights, we have been leading a year-long fight to protect and expand access to rooftop solar during the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) proceeding to determine the future solar agreement in the Golden State.  Attacks from the California investor-owned utilities, Natural Resources Defense Council (which has a history of aligning with the monopoly utilities companies, which you can read about here) and other utility-aligned, anti-solar groups have resulted in a proposed decision to drastically reduce benefits for solar customers, making rooftop solar inaccessible to all but the very wealthy.  Hammond Climate Solutions has helped to build a grassroots coalition of environmental and climate organizations, schools, cities, elected officials and more who are all standing up to protect and expand access to rooftop solar.  Through our advocacy and coalition building, we have helped five cities in our region submit letters or resolutions to the CPUC and Governor Newsom, advocating for a strong net energy metering agreement, the agreement that has allowed rooftop solar to become increasingly accessible to working class families, schools, small businesses and nonprofits.  More information on the recently-proposed decision, its impacts and how you can help protect rooftop solar as a climate solution can be found here.


Alongside efforts to protect rooftop solar and expand solar access in communities of concern, locally we were also very involved with a coalition advocating for the City of San Diego to cut ties with a fossil fuel corporation when renewing its gas and electric franchise agreements, which was up for renewal for the second time in a century.  The gas and electric franchise agreements would have determined whether we could build a clean energy future or if we would have been locked into another long term agreement with dirty fossil fuels.  After calling in to countless city council and committee meetings, attending meetings with city council members and organizing rallies and press conferences, we were confident that San Diegans made their voices clear that the broken energy system under San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) was not working, and after over an hour of public comments in opposition to awarding the franchise agreement to SDG&E, the city council disappointed us in a 6-3 vote.  SDG&E promised programs and funding in order to secure the franchise agreements, including a Solar Equity Fund to subsidize solar for low-income families, however after a few stakeholder meetings which Hammond Climate Solutions attended, there has not been any progress in moving the program forward.  We plan to stay engaged with helping shape the Solar Equity Fund to be as beneficial to San Diegans as possible. 


Other energy related advocacy efforts have also included advocating for cities and San Diego County to join San Diego Community Power (SDCP), San Diego’s largest community choice energy program.  This year, San Diego County and National City both joined SDCP, securing a pathway to 100 percent clean energy. 


Although the majority of our advocacy this year has been energy related, we were also involved in a number of wins for building electrification ordinances around the county.  Through our involvement in the San Diego Building Electrification Coalition, we were able to help in successfully urging Encinitas and Solana Beach to pass all electric building reach codes for new construction buildings, a huge win considering buildings make up a significant portion of the region’s greenhouse gas emissions.  In addition to securing building electrification ordinances, we have also helped in advocating for a regional transportation plan, a truly innovative and first of its kind plan that will bring our regional transportation system to where it should be, getting people out of their cars and into other modes of sustainable transportation.  Through our membership with the San Diego Green New Deal Alliance, we have also been advocating for zero carbon policies as well as family sustaining green jobs and a just transition for workers. 


While most of our advocacy and policy work was focused on local and statewide efforts, Hammond Climate Solutions was also involved in a federal advocacy effort in partnership with the California Green New Deal Coalition to encourage a federal infrastructure package that would not only provide much needed funding for failing infrastructure, but also provide funding for climate and resiliency efforts with a focus on creating good green jobs. 


Although this year has had climate activists on the defense fighting against utility attacks, we are hopeful next year will bring legislation and policies that can lead to a productive and meaningful 2022.  In addition to our success in our policy advocacy, we have also had success with the programs that Hammond Climate Solutions manages and with the San Diego Climate Hub collaborations.  To learn more about our other work throughout the year, visit our recent blog post, Celebrating Climate Action - 2021 Year in Review.

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Image of a ground-mounted solar system at a farm that was funded by the Solar Moonshot Program

Solar Moonshot Program - 2021 Highlights

Over the last year, our team had the privilege of managing the Solar Moonshot Program for the second year in a row. In 2021, 42 nonprofit organizations were able to afford the switch to solar thanks to the $1,000,000 budget from Left Coast Fund, collectively installing 42 clean energy projects in 13 states. The Solar Moonshot Program helped energize 1,115.4kW of rooftop and ground-mounted solar and three solar thermal units, which collectively offset 27,800.5 metric tons of carbon, equivalent to over three million gallons of gasoline consumed or the energy usage of over 3,000 homes. These solar projects are creating healthier communities that have cleaner air, a greater quality of life, more green jobs and workforce training opportunities and reduced likelihood of developing health problems such as asthma that occur as a result of pollution.

Over the last year, our team had the privilege of managing the Solar Moonshot Program for the second year in a row.  In 2021, 42 nonprofit organizations were able to afford the switch to solar thanks to the $1,000,000 budget from Left Coast Fund, collectively installing 42 clean energy projects in 13 states.  The Solar Moonshot Program helped energize 1,115.4kW of rooftop and ground-mounted solar and three solar thermal units, which collectively offset 27,800.5 metric tons of carbon, equivalent to over three million gallons of gasoline consumed or the energy usage of over 3,000 homes.  These solar projects are creating healthier communities that have cleaner air, a greater quality of life, more green jobs and workforce training opportunities and reduced likelihood of developing health problems such as asthma that occur as a result of pollution.


Through the generous funding from Left Coast Fund and the partnerships that made these projects possible, communities are reducing their reliance on dirty fossil fuels, supporting the green economy, saving money that is being reinvested in the nonprofits’ missions and creating educational opportunities for community members.  The solar photovoltaic and solar thermal projects simultaneously demonstrate the feasibility of clean energy for community members, many who do not have equitable access to these key climate solutions.


While the Solar Moonshot Program is intended to help nonprofit organizations go solar, tribal nations and communities as a whole can benefit from the funds available through partnerships with 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.  Funding from the 2021 budget year assisted a wide range of recipients, from community resilience hubs and community land trusts, to Indigenous communities, school districts and nonprofit organizations providing long-term solutions for houseless folx.


As noted in our Solar Moonshot Program - 2020 Highlights blog post, in early 2020, Hammond Climate Solutions was brought on to manage the “50 Solar States Project” by a San Diego-based philanthropist who provides funding through Left Coast Fund.  This project was the original initiative behind the Solar Moonshot Program and intended to fund one solar project in each state in the U.S.  The urgency of the climate crisis encouraged a pivot to focus on deploying solar as quickly as possible, rather than location, and the Solar Moonshot Program came to fruition as a result.


Along with last year’s $1,000,000 budget commitment, our team’s goal for 2021 was to fund 40 projects, with up to $25,000 being awarded to each participant.  We reached this goal and assisted three solar thermal and 41 rooftop solar projects this year, for an average grant amount of $23,637. Since the program began in 2020, we have been able to help a total of 87 nonprofit organizations go solar!


Projects supported climate justice efforts throughout the U.S., spearheaded by 2021 grant recipients like Community Treehouse Center Detroit, a nonprofit organization that assisted 11 homeowners in the neighborhood of Jefferson Chalmers to go solar.  The community of concern is located on the southeast side of Detroit and is already experiencing disproportionate effects of the climate crisis - efforts led by the organization’s founder and president, Tammy Black, are investing in the community’s future through programs that support persons with disabilities and mental wellness, entrepreneurship, green spaces, clean energy, financial wellbeing and more.  The solar project will help reduce local climate injustices, create climate resiliency and reinvest in the organization’s mission of creating a safe and sustainable community where all folx can succeed.


The following organizations have received grants this past year and are collectively helping combat the climate crisis:



We are excited to announce that we’ll be managing the Solar Moonshot Program in 2022 thanks to generous support from Left Coast Fund and the BQuest Foundation!  Project funding levels and prioritization will be based on the projects' financial need and installation timeline. Nonprofits interested in applying for a Solar Moonshot Program grant can visit the website, www.solarmoonshot.org.  We invite you to follow us on social media to see our #SolarSaturday posts, which highlight the amazing nonprofit organizations going solar and helping create a more just and livable future.  We can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.


If you know of a foundation or philanthropist interested in supporting the Solar Moonshot Program in 2022, further expanding our impact, please reach out to Tara at tara@hammondclimatesolutions.com


Photo caption: Solar panel system located at Solidarity Farm in Pauma Valley, Calif., Apr. 8, 2021. (Photo/Aloha Solar Power)

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Solar advocates protesting in front of the state capitol

California Agency Proposes an 80 Percent Reduction in Benefits for Solar Customers

Over the course of this year, Hammond Climate Solutions has released nine blogs, numerous toolkits with calls to action and participated in countless meetings, presentations and webinars to raise awareness about how the monopoly utilities are trying to kill rooftop solar in California. We managed to help grow a local coalition consisting of cities, elected officials, environmental and climate justice organizations and schools. San Diego County residents have made their voices heard, and the message is clear - we want to see solar continue to grow. The highly-anticipated net energy metering (NEM) 3.0 proposed decision was released this week and it is very clear that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has sided with the utilities and is proposing to make drastic cuts to the benefits of going solar.

Over the course of this year, Hammond Climate Solutions has released nine blogs, numerous toolkits with calls to action and participated in countless meetings, presentations and webinars to raise awareness about how the monopoly utilities are trying to kill rooftop solar in California.  We managed to help grow a local coalition consisting of cities, elected officials, environmental and climate justice organizations and schools.  San Diego County residents have made their voices heard, and the message is clear - we want to see solar continue to grow.  The highly-anticipated net energy metering (NEM) 3.0 proposed decision was released this week and it is very clear that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has sided with the utilities and is proposing to make drastic cuts to the benefits of going solar. 


The first of many changes to the policy, which has allowed rooftop solar to become increasingly accessible to low and moderate-income families, is drastic cuts to the credit that solar customers receive for sharing their excess electricity with their neighbors.  The proposed decision cuts this credit by 80 percent, from around 25 cents per kilowatt hour all the way down to 5 cents per kilowatt hour.  This immediate change alone is enough to see a major reduction in rooftop solar installations and therefore a reduction in solar jobs across the state, however the decision goes further than making cuts to current credits. 


The CPUC has also sided with the investor-owned utilities to slap solar customers with high punitive monthly fees.  The fees themselves will depend on the system size, however an average system in the San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) utility territory will carry the monthly fee of about $64 per month, the highest in the nation.  This fee is in addition to a loan or lease payment, which disproportionately impacts families who utilize solar financing options to afford the switch to solar. 


Beyond the draconian measures the CPUC and investor-owned utilities have taken to discourage new solar customers, they have gone a step further to impose changes on existing customers as well.  The NEM 1.0 and NEM 2.0 agreements that apply to current customers established a 20 year transition period, whereby solar customers were permitted to remain on their applicable NEM tariff for 20 years from the date of interconnection with the grid.  Therefore, solar customers naturally used 20-year financial models to determine the economic benefit of their investment, but the proposed decision is set to negate the bankability of those projections with a 25 percent reduction in grandfathering periods for existing customers. 


As our local and statewide coalition grew, and after delivering 120,000 petition signatures to Governor Newsom, we were hopeful that the CPUC would be on our side and that we would be advocating for small changes in the proposed decision, however it is clear that the CPUC has sided with the monopoly utilities.  As California continues to see the effects of the climate crisis and fires, flooding and blackouts are becoming more and more common, now more than ever is the time to fight back against this utility profit grab! 


Call Governor Newsom today!  Call Governor Newsom directly at (916) 445-2841 or use the Solar Rights Alliance’s calling tool to call.  Press 6 to speak to a representative or press 3 to leave a voicemail.  A sample script is below: 


 “My name is ___ and I live in ____. I am against the proposal to cut the benefits of rooftop solar!  The high solar fees and cutting the benefits of solar by 80% will kill the solar market and worsen the climate crisis.  Nobody should pay a penalty for putting solar panels on their roof and California should be doing more, not less, to promote rooftop solar.  Please say no to the utilities’ profit grab, and yes to helping millions of working and middle class people get solar.“

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