Businesses and home-owners who use rooftop solar systems are underpaid for the excess power they sell back to utilities, a factor that could be slowing the adoption of solar energy, according to study by an environmental advocacy group.
The findings of Environment America are supported by other studies that have found that customers generally don't realize the full benefits of their solar panels because of how they are paid by utilities, which in most cases is determined by state laws. Forty-one states have laws setting parameters for solar panel owners to sell back power to utilities, a process called net metering; Texas, which has a deregulated power market, doesn't.
Environment America compiled research from 16 studies of power systems around the country, including in San Antonio and Austin, where electricity is provided by municipal utilities. In most cases, the group's examination found, solar panel owners were underpaid by about 20 percent for the energy they produce.
The study is part of push by researchers, advocates and solar power users to lower barriers to rooftop solar. Since solar systems are expensive, the income from selling excess power provides an incentive for buyers. That makes the prices paid by utilities critical to wider adoption.
The key, researchers have concluded, is for states to develop policies that allow utilities to benefit from added electricity - think a hot August in Houston when supplies are stretched - and customers to receive fair value for their power.
Texas, while the nation's leader in wind energy, has been slow to adopt solar power, both on grid and consumer scale. The roughly 300 megawatts of grid-scale solar power in Texas accounts for less than 1 percent of the state's electricity generation, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees most of the power grid.
The state's deregulated power market leaves it up to retail electricity companies to offer net metering, and that has provided challenges to rooftop solar. In Houston, for example, only about 2,000 residential and commercial customers have rooftop solar.
In its report, Environment America found that utilities typically pay homeowners the retail price of electricity, but value of the energy is often greater when a range of factors is considered, including wholesale prices, which can spike during peak demand periods.
In the regions studied, the average retail price was 13 cents per kilowatt-hour, while analysts estimated the value of rooftop solar power at 16.4 cents.