California gives the green light to balcony solar — SkimNews
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- Gavin Newsom signed three California energy bills on September 30 — SB 868, SB 913, and SB 905 — opening the door to plug-in balcony solar, virtual power plants, and grid-utilization data publishing.
- SB 868 (the Plug and Play Solar Act, authored by state Senator Scott Wiener) legalizes balcony solar systems up to 1,200 watts AC per household that plug into a 120v outlet, and bars utilities from requiring interconnection agreements, advance approval, or device-related fees — only a simple online notification is allowed, with the exemptions expiring January 1, 2030.
- SB 868 qualifying devices must comply with electrical codes, carry Underwriters Laboratories or equivalent certification, and include anti-islanding protection to prevent feeding electricity into the grid during an outage.
- SB 913 (the Clean Local Power Act, authored by state Senator Josh Becker) directs regulators to improve pathways for coordinated home batteries, EVs, and smart thermostats to count toward utilities' reliability requirements, giving virtual power plants a clearer route to compete with conventional power plants — regulators have until June 30, 2028.
- SB 905 requires large investor-owned utilities to publish data on how heavily local grids are used, how much room they have outside peak hours, and where capacity is tight, and to assess whether batteries or load-shifting can meet local grid needs more cheaply than traditional upgrades; it also directs regulators to consider lower shareholder returns on certain utility investments.
- Kat Lockwood, CEO of The Climate Center, said the laws "provide relief for Californians struggling with high utility bills" while creating a foundation for climate action and affordability that the next governor can build on.
Why it matters: Renters, apartment dwellers, and homeowners with unsuitable roofs gain a direct, paperwork-light path to plug-in balcony solar up to 1,200 watts under SB 868 — utilities lose the ability to demand interconnection agreements, advance approval, or device fees. Those utility exemptions expire January 1, 2030, putting the decision to extend or scrap them in the hands of the next governor.
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