SMA Joins California State Senators Wiener and Nielsen on the Announcement of SB 288

SB 288 is a bipartisan legislation that protects the rights of all consumers to invest in, generate and store their own energy from the sun and other sources of renewable energy.

Today, SMA team members were part of a large coalition of homeowners, school officials, farmers, solar workers, and small businesses who joined Senators Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Jim Nielsen (R-Red Bluff) at the State Capitol.  Both State legislators announced a bipartisan initiative aimed at creating a much-needed solar bill of rights to protect the right of consumers to generate and store their own clean energy on-site, without interference from utility companies.

“To fight climate change, California is moving aggressively to 100% renewable energy,” said Senator Weiner. “To meet our 100% renewable energy goal, we must make it easier for individuals, businesses, nonprofits and public agencies to generate their own renewable energy. This legislation is about ensuring that we all have access to the benefits of solar and other sources of renewable energy”. He added “We must make it easier and more affordable -not harder and more expensive- to install and use these technologies”.

The Solar Bill of Rights recognizes that all Californians have the right to:

• Generate, store and use renewable energy on their property without interference from the utility companies.
• Interconnect their solar and storage to the grid quickly, without extensive utility red tape.
• Be free from discriminatory fees and charges associated with installing solar and storage technologies.

It also makes it easier for storage customers to provide grid services with their battery, helping to create a more reliable electrical grid and receive a fair credit in return.

In addition to Senator Nielsen, Senator Jeff Stone (R-Temecula) and Assembly Members Richard Bloom (D-Monica), Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) and Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) co-authored the SB 288.

Visit our gallery to see pictures of the event today and watch this video of the announcement.