Solar panel mandate may be big mistake

California is among the world’s leaders in its commitment to using cleaner energy. A 2015 law requires the state to get half its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. But the state’s electric utilities have made such progress that the California Public Utilities Commission says there’s a chance the goal could be met by 2020. A 2017 Los Angeles Times investigation found that so much money had already been invested in California solar power that it had created a glut that was forcing ratepayers to pay billions of dollars “for power they don’t need.”

Against this backdrop, the California Energy Commission’s decision to require rooftop solar panels on nearly all new single-family homes and low-rise multi-family housing projects starting in 2020 seems hasty and daft. Amid a housing crisis, the mandate will add an average of more than $10,500 to the new homes’ cost. The claim that homeowners can pay this off in 10 or 15 years depends on the dubious idea utilities will be eager to buy excess solar power from homeowners instead of relying on power from far cheaper industrial solar plants. UC Davis energy expert James Bushnell— credible because of his long history as a green-power advocate—says the mandate is likely to have such negative fallout it will make “reaching California’s climate goals possibly more difficult and definitely more expensive.”

The commission should reconsider its decision and rescind a rash, risky mandate.