California

California State Solar Overview

California has installed the most solar and energy storage of any state in the U.S. The Golden State has long been a solar leader because of the many economic and environmental benefits it provides, including billions in local investment.

California Policy Priorities & Recent Highlights

• Dynamic Rates Applications (A.24-12-008 and A. 24-09-014) – These proceedings will address dynamic rate proposals of two of California’s largest investor-owned utilities. SEIA’s participation will be directed towards ensuring that the adopted rates allow for the enhancement of the value of solar and storage investments for all customer classes.
• Integrated Resources Proceeding (R.20-05-003) – While this proceeding has been ongoing since 2020, a significant portion of 2026 will be spent on the development of a Reliable and Clean Power Procurement Program aimed at establishing a programmatic approach to required procurement for all load serving entities under the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission. SEIA’s participation will advance the interests of solar and storage in this procurement program.
• Fixed Charge (R. 22-07-005) – As the implementation of the residential fixed charges adopted in 2024 will have major impacts on incentives for new customers to go solar as well as impact savings for current customers, SEIA will work in this proceeding to deter increases in the fixed charge and to find alternative rate designs which will serve to lower bills and enhance electrification. SEIA continues to be a leader among the parties pushing the CPUC to consider a range of rate reforms that promote demand flexibility – in other words, not to focus solely on fixed charges.
• Community Solar (A. 22-05-022) – SEIA will continue its effort at the California Public Utilities Commission to help fashion a program that allows Californians to benefit from community solar and is workable for the developer community. Concurrently, SEIA will be working through other avenues, such as the California Energy Commission, to have policies enacted that will enhance the value of in– front– of– the– meter distributed solar resources to the electric grid. This includes efforts to get California agencies to study front-of-the-meter resources as load modifiers.
• Avoided Cost Calculator – SEIA continues to advocate for significant improvements to the CPUC’s avoided cost calculator tool, which will be used to determine the benefits that distributed solar provides.
• Property Tax Valuation– SEIA is working to ensure that there is a standard valuation process for solar projects as the property tax exclusion expires. This will enable companies to plan ahead accordingly and create predictability across the counties.
• Interconnection – SEIA continues to advocate at the CAISO for improvements to their recent IPE process and follow up on how those changes play out for solar developers in the state.
• Rule 21/ DG Interconnection – The Commission has opened up a new rulemaking to examine the Rule 21 – DG Facility Interconnections Tariff. SEIA’s primary focus in this proceeding will be twofold: (1) modify Rule 21’s Screen Q whose current construct results in consistent failures by projects greater than 1 MW and (2) enforcement of Rule 21 timelines. Expeditious resolution of both these issues is critical to help projects take advantage of the remaining opportunity for the ITC.

California Major Solar and Storage Projects

SEIA’s Major Solar Projects List is a database of all U.S. ground-mounted solar projects, 1 MW and above, that are either operating, under construction or under development.