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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the Glendale Solar Solution? It’s a policy proposal, a campaign for public support, and a vision for Glendale’s future. GEC has developed the Glendale Solar Solution to involve all Glendalians in the solution for our energy needs, especially during peak demand hours.

What policies are included in the Glendale Solar Solution? The proposal includes policies that will make it less expensive, easier, and faster to install solar and storage at your home or business. There are many smart policies Glendale could adopt. The City should explore all of these and develop a plan that works for Glendale.

• Upfront incentives or rebates on solar installations, at a level that will allow customers to recoup the cost of investing in a solar system quickly and make the investment a smart financial choice.
• The highest level of incentives in 2022-2025 so that we can supercharge solar installations right away.
• Both upfront rebates and ongoing performance-based incentives for battery storage installed with solar systems.
• Higher incentives and other policies specifically aimed to encourage solar and storage adoption by lower-income customers and customers who live in the most heavily polluted areas of Glendale.
• Specific policies designed to accelerate adoption of solar and storage at multifamily properties and rental properties, such as virtual net metering (an arrangement that enables a property with separate utility accounts to have solar credits allocated to all the accounts), upfront incentives, and more policies to make solar and storage attractive to both owners and tenants.
• Keep the current net metering policy for solar, which gives the customer a credit for energy sent from their solar system to the grid that’s equal to the cost of energy the customer uses from the grid.
• Allow people to install solar systems sized larger than current usage, to meet future energy needs as they add electric vehicles and appliances.
• A revised feed-in tariff program for customers to sell electricity to GWP at rates that are financially beneficial for both the customer and the utility.
• Streamlined processes for GWP application review, building permit approval, and inspections, to reduce costs and speed up installations.
• Outreach and technical assistance to encourage customers participation and help them through the process.

How can the Glendale Solar Solution be put into practice? We are looking to Glendale City Council, our City’s leaders, to pass a resolution adopting the goals of the Glendale Solar Solution, and putting in place a plan to get us there. Mayor Ardy Kassakhian introduced the resolution on July 12, 2022. The Resolution Establishing Goals for Solar and Energy Storage Installations and Clean Energy Targets passed on August 16, 2022!

Doesn’t Glendale already have solar incentives? Glendale used to offer incentives for solar systems. Originally, the amount was fairly high, but the budget didn’t cover demand, so only some people received the incentive, through a random lottery system. Later, the amount was reduced. On June 30, 2021 the city discontinued all solar incentives.

How do performance-based incentives for batteries work? Customers agree to let GWP or a battery company manage their battery in a way that helps Glendale’s grid, especially when usage spikes on hot evenings. In return, customers get bill credits or cash payments.

What can Glendale residents do to support the Glendale Solar Solution? The best thing you can do is sign on as a supporter! You can do that right here on this website. Showing that the Glendale community stands behind this proposal is key. You can also support the Glendale Solar Solution by joining GEC. You can email and call in to CIty Council to express your support. You can volunteer to help in other ways, too. If you’d like to talk about possible things you can do to help, please email us at contact@gec.eco.

Why is Glendale so far behind the state in solar installations? As you might imagine, there’s no single reason. One major reason is that the state embraced a bold policy vision in 2006, when Governor Schwarzenegger signed the Million Solar Roofs initiative, Senate Bill 1, into law. This was a $3.3 billion investment in the state’s solar future, designed to lower the cost of solar energy and enable widespread adoption, with a goal of 3,000 megawatts of rooftop solar. California met the one million solar roofs milestone in 2019. The Million Solar Roofs initiative was most successful in the investor-owned utilities’ territories, and less so in the territories of municipal utilities like Glendale, including because of a lack of transparency and regular reporting of market data to monitor performance. Also, Glendale has a higher proportion of multifamily homes than the state as a whole, and it’s not as easy to install solar on multifamily buildings. Another factor is that Glendale’s electric utility rates have historically not been as high as rates charged by investor-owned utilities. Higher electric rates means higher costs for energy purchased from the utility, and greater savings from using self-generated solar energy instead. That increases the financial incentives for going solar by making it take less time to recoup an investment in a solar system. The Glendale Solar Solution would provide incentives at a level to make adopting solar make good financial sense, by substantially reducing the cost of a system and making the significant monthly bill savings meet and beat the initial investment much faster than it takes in Glendale now.

How would increasing the amount of energy Glendale gets from customer solar and storage affect our energy reliability?  Energy storage is one of the fastest, most responsive energy resources available. The Glendale Solar Solution includes a strong energy storage component, by providing incentives to customers who install batteries paired with storage. GWP can also install more energy storage on its electrical system to capture solar energy produced by customers during the day. All the solar energy can be stored until it’s needed and then dispatched instantaneously. Studies have shown that energy storage can provide reliable, affordable energy. The Glendale Solar Solution is a vision for a clean, reliable, energy system. We all know the value of reliable energy service, and it will be an essential element of the plan.

Can GWP put more storage at the Grayson power plant or elsewhere to utilize the solar on commercial buildings and homes that don’t currently have battery storage? Yes, we think GWP should consider adding more energy storage in Glendale. GWP is planning to install 75 MW/300 MWh of storage at Grayson already. That battery system will be charged with renewable energy through transmission lines into Glendale. Additional battery storage could be added to charge from solar installed on customer properties throughout the city. Glendale’s distribution system may offer sites such as at substations, and there may be other sites that could be used for installing modular batteries throughout the city. The option of having GWP install more battery storage may be a good solution for Glendale, which we believe the city should explore.

How will the federal Inflation Reduction Act affect the Glendale Solar Solution? The federal climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), can make adding solar and energy storage more attractive and a smarter financial choice. There are two main considerations.

• The IRA would increase the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) to 30% for 10 years. The ITC will allow people and entities that install solar and storage to deduct 30% of the cost to install a system from their taxes, effectively reducing the installation cost by 30%. The Glendale Solar Solution includes asking the City to provide incentives to reduce the cost of installing a solar + storage system so that Glendale residents, businesses, and organizations can afford the investment. The ITC would reduce the cost, and incentives would go farther.
• The IRA will also incentivize electrifying appliances—switching out gas-burning appliances like furnaces, water heaters, ranges, and clothes dryers—and electric vehicles. Making those changes will increase electricity usage, which means higher electricity bills—but if you have a solar system that you can use to generate electricity for all of those new appliances and EVs, then you won’t face higher electricity. You will also no longer be paying for gas for your car and home. If you replace gas appliances with electric appliances for the environmental benefits (and there are many!), the best way to make sure you’re using renewable energy as your electricity source is to generate it yourself, and use a battery to have that energy available when you need it. Increasing your use of electricity makes having solar and storage make even more financial and environmental sense than it already does!