Energy Policy Now Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Natural gas market expert Anne-Sophie Corbeau explores the global outlook for LNG demand, and the potential for this demand to support the rapid expansion of U.S. LNG export capacity.

As the nation’s reliance on natural gas as a fuel for electricity generation has grown, so have reliability challenges.

Canary Media senior editor Eric Wesoff explains the latest in a history of solar PV trade disputes involving the U.S. and China, and what it could mean for the growth of solar power and domestic solar manufacturing.

Kleinman Center visiting scholar Severin Borenstein discusses California’s struggle to balance residential solar growth with electricity rate equity.

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California’s residential solar market is at a critical inflection point after years of strong growth. Last year the state, which has more rooftop solar than any other, lowered the net metering rate that it pays solar households for the excess electricity that they feed into the electric grid. The policy change contributed to a steep decline in residential rooftop solar installations. This could complicate the state’s task of achieving 100% carbon free power in just over 20 years.

Yet the reasons behind California’s decision to reduce its solar subsidy are complex and reflect growing tensions over the private versus public costs of rooftop solar. These costs are particularly controversial in a state that already has among the highest electricity rates in the country, as well as aggressive targets for home electrification.

On the podcast Severin Borenstein, a Kleinman Center visiting scholar and faculty director of the Energy Institute at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, discusses California’s residential solar energy policies and the challenge of balancing equity, solar growth, and the pace of electrification. Borenstein also explores the lessons from California’s experience that might be applied to other states where rooftop solar power growth is poised to accelerate.

Severin Borenstein is a visiting scholar at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and faculty director of the Energy Institute at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Related Content

Overcoming Economic Barriers to Electrifying Everything (podcast) https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/podcast/overcoming-economic-barriers-to-electrifying-everything/

Residential Battery Storage: Reshaping the Way We Do Electricity https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/residential-battery-storage-reshaping-the-way-we-do-electricity/

 

Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.
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An expert in electricity markets explains why market price signals alone will struggle to incentivize adequate investment in the flexible electricity resources needed for future grid reliability.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse discusses the prospects for bipartisan U.S. carbon border fee legislation, and the need to protect the Biden Administration’s clean energy and climate achievements.