The Solar Bill of Rights

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the trade association for the solar industry, recently published a ‘Solar Bill of Rights’ for the United States.  The eight-point bill, reproduced below, appears not to contain any revolutionary concepts;  nothing in it should appear unreasonable, irrational or excessive.  Yet every one of the points listed is there because it has been, and in many cases still is being, resisted or abrogated by authority.

Of course, that other Bill of Rights—the eighteenth century one—was considered revolutionary at the time, and only in retrospect was seen to be unequivocally fair and reasonable.   So if that seminal document from the early days of our nation could pass from being avant-garde to being accepted, how much more readily should these ‘solar’ rights, unquestionably fair, be accepted today?

Take a look at the Solar Bill of Rights and determine whether you feel Americans are entitled to them, whether they contain truths that are, in the words of another historic document of the time, “self-evident.”  If you think so, perhaps your local and state officials need to consider adopting them too.

The Solar Bill of Rights

We declare these rights not on behalf of our companies, but on behalf of our customers and our country.  We seek no more than the freedom to compete on equal terms and no more than the liberty for consumers to choose the energy source they think best.

1.  Americans have the right to put solar on their homes and businesses.

Millions of Americans want to put solar on the roof of their home or business, but many are prevented from doing so by local restrictions.  Some Homeowners’ Associations have prevented residents from going solar through neighborhood covenants, which allow for the association to veto any changes to a property’s aesthetics.  Some utilities and municipalities have also made it prohibitively time-consuming and/or expensive to have a system permitted or inspected.

2. Americans have the right to connect their solar energy system to the grid with unifrom national standards.

Currently, each state (in some cases, each utility) has a unique process for connecting solar systems to the local electricity grid.  National interconnection standards will create a uniform process and paperwork, creating a simple process for the homeowner and a standardized physical connection for manufacturers.  Connecting a home solar system shouldn’t be any more complicated for the homeowner than setting up an Internet connection.

3.  Americans have the right to net meter and be compensated at the very least with full retail electricity rates.

Residential solar systems generate excess electricity in the middle of the day, when the owners aren’t usually at home.  Net metering requires the utility company to credit any excess generation to the customer at full retail rates at a minimum – effectively running the electricity meter backwards when the system is generating more electricity than the occupants of the house are using.  Allowing customers to net meter is critical to making solar an economically viable option for most homeowners.  

4.  The solar industry has the right to a fair competitive environment.

The highly profitable fossil fuel industries have received tens of billions of dollars in subsidies from the federal government for decades.  In addition, fossil fuel industries are protected from bearing the full social costs of the pollution they produce.  The solar energy industry and the public expect a fair playing field, with all energy sources evaluated based on their full, life-cycle costs and benefits to society.  Therefore it is critical that solar energy receive the same level of support, for the same duration, as the fossil fuel industry.

5.  The solar industry has the right to equal access to public lands.

America has some of the best solar resources in the world, which are often on public lands overseen by the federal government.  But even though oil and gas industries have been granted access to 45 million acres of public lands, the federal government has yet to approve a single solar project application for development.  Solar is a clean, renewable American resource and access to public lands is a critical component of any national strategy to expand our use of renewable energy.

6.  The solar industry has the right to sell its power across a new, 21^st-century transmission grid.

Over the last 100 years, the transmission grid in the United States has been built as a patchwork of local systems, designed and planned to meet local needs.  As the needs of customers have changed, so has the way the electric industry does business.  What haven’t changed are the rules crafted in an era of coal-fired power plants.  What is needed now is an investment in infrastructure to connect areas rich in solar resources with major population centers. 

7.  Americans have the right to buy solar electricity from their utility. 

Many utility companies have never considered offering their customers the option to purchase clean solar energy, rather than dirty energy from coal or other fossil fuels.  Nationwide, over 90% of people support increased use of solar energy, and over three-quarters believe it should be a major priority of the federal government.  Despite this, only around 25% of utility customers in the US have the ability to actually purchase clean, renewable power from their utility, and only a fraction of those programs offer solar energy.  Utilities should be required to offer the electricity source that their customers want.

8.  Americans have the right to – and should expect – the highest ethical treatment from the solar industry.

Solar energy systems are an investment as much as a physical product.  Consumers deserve top-quality information and treatment from solar energy providers and installers.  Consumers should expect the solar industry to minimize its environmental impact through panel recycling and other programs, and communicate information about available incentives in a clear, accurate and accessible manner.  Finally, consumers should expect that solar systems will work better than advertised, and that companies will make every good faith effort to support solar owners over the life of their systems.