A new trade association, Californians for Local, Affordable Solar and Storage (CLASS) has started work to improve access to community solar and battery storage projects for the residential and commercial and industrial (C&I) sectors.
Launched this week, CLASS’ founding members include independent power producers (IPPs) including Dimension Energy and companies already active in the distributed solar space, such as C&I developer White Pine Renewables and community solar developer Fieldworks Power. The new trade association highlighted political activity as a key priority, pointing to the passing of legislation that is “favourable” to the community solar sector in other states, such as Illinois, which is lacking in California.
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Passed at the start of the year, the Illinois Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA) includes a number of provisions for the community solar sector in particular, such as increasing the maximum size of community solar projects in the state to 10MW and establishing a “Solar Bill of Rights” to ensure residents have access to rooftop solar projects built by municipal and cooperative utilities.
Other states have also sought to improve policy support for the energy transition, such as New Jersey, where last week new governor Mikie Sherrill announced plans to build “thousands of megawatts” of new solar PV and battery storage capacity.
This contrasts to California; in 2024, the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) decided to discontinue programmes such as the Community Solar Green Tariff (CSGT), which had provided a 20% discount for energy bills for residents in “disadvantages communities” that could not install their own solar panels, but had subscribed to community solar programmes.
“Community solar is already lowering bills and expanding access to clean energy in states across the country,” said Derek Chernow, CLASS executive director, who had previously served as the Western US regional director of the Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA).
“It’s time for California to catch up and deliver real relief for renters and other families struggling with high power bills,” added Chernow; CLASS notes that California residents could save as much as US$200 a year on their energy bills with a community solar subscription.
