Solar Energy

September 24, 2013

California Redefines Solar Net Metering, Will Restructure Residential Electricity Rates

Sanjay Ranchod, Assistant General Counsel and Director of Policy and Electricity Markets at SolarCity, talks AB 327 and net metering with The Planning Report.

November 3, 2011

LADWP’s Ron Nichols: We Need Capital Investment

Los Angeles' power and water infrastructure system is aging, and a spirit of environmental responsibility is driving the LADWP to make bold changes. Addressing these developments, however, requires significant capital investment. The current economic and political climate makes advocating for expensive investments a daunting challenge. In a recent talk, LADWP General Manager Ron Nichols explained the situation and his approach.

August 4, 2026

California Has Reset the Economics of Rooftop Solar: The Math is Less Appealing

In this New York Times feature, TPR excerpts reporting by Francesca Paris on the eroding economics of residential solar, following President Trump's repeal of the federal residential solar tax credit last year and a decade-long, state-by-state rollback of net metering — the rate mechanism, dating to the 1980s, that has underwritten rooftop solar's return on investment. More than a third of U.S. states have restructured their net metering rules over the past ten years, and in some cases the changes have cut homeowner savings by hundreds or thousands of dollars annually.

February 21, 2019

California Rep. Mike Levin on the Green New Deal & Congressional Climate Action

California Rep. Mike Levin discusses the policies that will ground the Green New Deal and his plans for bold and aggressive climate action.

November 30, 2017

Yes! A 'Golden Opportunity' for L.A.: Affordable Housing + Solar

GRID Alternatives-Los Angeles Executive Director Michael Kadish and new LADWP Commissioner Aura Vasquez are championing the effort to bring solar energy to the city's 1.6 million renters in multifamily housing.

June 9, 2015

LA City Public Works Commissioners: Collaboration Among Departments Generates ‘One Water’ Innovation

Heather Repenning and Monica Rodriguez discuss the board’s priorities, from wastewater treatment, to sidewalk repair, to solar energy.

October 8, 2014

Lennar and SunStreet Energy Commit to Offering Solar Systems in Their New Homes

David Kaiserman elaborates on a new model he's pioneering that combines residential development and renewable energy.

August 7, 2013

Nate Lewis Leads US Energy Innovation Hub at Caltech

Nate Lewis, Scientific Director of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) at Caltech, discusses the scale of climate change at the LAEDC Mid Year Economic Forecast.

February 26, 2012

Ron Nichols at VX2012: LADWP Must Meet Renewable Obligations

Ron Nichols, General Manager of the LADPW, at the fifth VerdeXchange Conference offers remarks on the challenges the utility faces in reaching renewable energy goals and mandates. Rates will climb, and the Nichols is certain that the LADWP can reach the 33 percent renewables requirement.

October 7, 2011

The Future of Utility-Scale Renewable Energy in California

From the CleanTech OC 2011 Annual Conference and Expo comes this conversation between Marcie Edwards, Michael Peevey, Tim Olson, Stephen Mullenix, and Guy Blanchard on renewable utilities in California. The panelists focus on whether the regulatory bodies create certainty or ambiguity in the California renewables market.

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