Featured in Material change – 03-2024

Gray skies over Californian solar

There may be a global solar boom but a drastic revision of California’s net metering program has ruptured the industry overnight and is affecting everyone from installers to financiers to makers of power electronics, as Tristan Rayner reports.

By

Tristan Rayner

11 Mar 2024

California-based Enphase supplies MLPE to residential and commercial projects. The company has cut 10% of its staff due to the current downturn but analysts expect it to benefit over the long term from new regulations promoting energy storage. | Photo: Enphase Energy

In California, which represents half of the United States residential solar market, the third iteration of net energy metering (NEM) rules has reduced the payments made for electricity fed into the grid from new residential solar arrays by 75%, drastically changing return-on-investment calculations. The “NEM 3.0” rules took effect on April 15, 2023, for new …

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