Tech Advancements Could Pick Up Slowing Local Solar Market

Growth for solar power stalled

San Diego is one of the top cities in America for residential solar power installations but for some reason, that number has stalled.

"This is the first year where we've seen an overall slowdown year over year," said Daniel Sullivan the President of Sullivan Solar Power.

Sullivan says over the second half of 2016 and into 2017 the adoption of renewable energy has slipped.  He says historically the solar industry has grown 30% to 40% year over year.  Why the change?

"One being is that the rules changed for those who went solar last year in June and so it made it slightly less attractive," said Sullivan.

Those changes include Net Metering 2.0, where new solar customers are unable to receive the same credit for excess electricty.  Sullivan also says potential solar customers are annoyed by agressive marketing.

"Companies going out in the neighborhoods knocking on their doors, calling them on the phone," said Sullivan, "for the average consumer it's overwealming, it's confusing."

So what will bring the industry back?  Benjamin Airth with the Center for Sustainable Energy says the addition of batteries or storage will make going solar more cost effective for some people.  The homeowner would be able to store excess electricty at their home rather than sent it back on grid to SDG&E.

"There's absolutely a need," said Airth but prices and incentives for the storage batteries will have to be attractive to potential solar customers.

"But there's still a lot of learning that needs to be done," said Airth.

Sullivan agrees, " The technology is proven, the questions was, is the cost going to justify the investment?"

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