Everyone loves rooftop solar. But there’s a problem.

Summary

Post Reports: “Everyone Loves Rooftop Solar. But There’s a Problem.”

Released: November 26, 2024 | Hosted by Martine Powers and Elahe Izadi

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Introduction

In the November 26th episode of Post Reports, hosts Martine Powers and climate zeitgeist reporter Shannon Osaka delve into the increasingly popular trend of rooftop solar panels. While solar energy is widely celebrated as a cornerstone of the clean energy transition, Shannon's investigative reporting uncovers complex challenges that could undermine its efficacy. This episode provides a nuanced examination of rooftop solar's promise, pitfalls, and broader implications for energy policy and equity.

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The Promise of Rooftop Solar

Martine Powers opens the discussion by sharing her personal enthusiasm for rooftop solar, reflecting the optimism experienced by many homeowners:

“A few of my neighbors have solar panels on their roofs... I was really hyped about solar panels.”
— Martine Powers [00:18]

Shannon Osaka echoes this sentiment, highlighting the significant financial and energy independence benefits:

“The promise of rooftop solar panels is you pay this kind of large upfront cost, but then your bills... plummet for years to come. You're saving thousands of dollars on your electricity.”
— Shannon Osaka [03:02]

Additional advantages include resilience against power outages when paired with home battery systems, making solar panels an attractive option for homeowners seeking stability and long-term savings.

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Challenges and Complications

Despite the optimistic outlook, Shannon introduces a compelling counter-narrative that questions the overall effectiveness of rooftop solar in combating carbon emissions:

“Rooftop solar is just not the most efficient way to get solar power onto the grid... it's almost four times more expensive than utility scale solar.”
— Shannon Osaka [05:20]

Key challenges discussed include:

1. Cost Efficiency: Rooftop solar installations are significantly more expensive per unit of energy produced compared to large-scale solar farms. The bespoke nature of residential installations increases costs due to variability in roof structures and the need for individualized setups.

2. Solar Glut and Grid Management: High concentrations of rooftop solar can lead to periods of excess energy production, especially midday when solar generation peaks. Without sufficient energy storage solutions, utilities may need to curtail solar generation, leading to inefficiencies:

   “If you are a state or a grid that has a ton of solar on the grid... there might be times in the day where you have to shut that solar off because you're producing so much.”
   — Shannon Osaka [07:55]

3. Economic Impacts: The increased costs associated with rooftop solar can indirectly burden lower and middle-income households. As wealthier homeowners benefit from reduced energy bills and potentially export excess energy to the grid at premium rates, the financial load shifts to other consumers:

   “...they're paying me for the solar that I'm giving them... that difference kind of gets pushed on to every other consumer of electricity on the grid.”
   — Shannon Osaka [10:35]

This dynamic exacerbates energy equity issues, as wealthier individuals can afford the upfront investment, while others face higher electricity costs without similar benefits.

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Equity Concerns

Martine raises an important point regarding the socioeconomic disparities in adopting rooftop solar:

“...folks with more disposable income... are more likely to be installing them, and that is kind of having an effect on what happens to the power for people with less money.”
— Martine Powers [09:31]

Shannon agrees, emphasizing that the financial barriers to rooftop solar exclude lower-income households from reaping its benefits, thereby widening the energy gap:

“People who switch to solar get huge benefits in their electricity bills, and those who can't afford solar still bear the costs.”
— Shannon Osaka [10:18]

This creates a situation where renewable energy advancements inadvertently lead to increased costs for those unable to participate, highlighting the need for more equitable solutions.

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Policy Implications and Future Outlook

The conversation shifts to policy considerations, particularly in light of potential changes with Donald Trump returning to the presidency. Shannon warns of possible rollbacks to solar incentives under a Trump administration, which has historically shown skepticism towards renewable energy subsidies:

“If you're sure that you want to take advantage, you should do so now.”
— Shannon Osaka [19:06]

Key points include:

1. Tax Credits and Incentives: Current incentives, such as those from the Inflation Reduction Act, are crucial for making rooftop solar financially viable. However, these may be curtailed or eliminated, increasing costs for future adopters.

2. Import Tariffs: Trump’s proposed tariffs on Chinese, Mexican, and Canadian solar imports could drive up the prices of solar components, further discouraging both individual and large-scale solar investments.

3. Balancing Grid Benefits: Policymakers are encouraged to refine incentives to ensure that rooftop solar installations contribute positively to the grid without imposing additional costs on non-solar consumers. This involves aligning compensation rates with the actual grid benefits provided by excess solar energy production.

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Conclusion and Recommendations

In wrapping up, Shannon advises that the decision to install rooftop solar should not rest solely on individual consumers grappling with these complexities. Instead, she advocates for a collective policy-driven approach to optimize renewable energy investments:

“It's up to policymakers to tweak those incentives to make sure that they're beneficial to everyone.”
— Shannon Osaka [17:12]

For homeowners considering solar panels, the current incentives provide a time-sensitive opportunity that may not be available in the future. Shannon emphasizes the importance of acting swiftly to capitalize on existing benefits before potential policy reversals:

“If you want to take these individual actions and you want those federal benefits, the time to act is now.”
— Shannon Osaka [19:06]

Additionally, adopting other sustainable practices—such as switching to electric vehicles or enhancing home energy efficiency—can complement solar installations, fostering a broader culture of environmental responsibility.

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Additional Stories and Updates

Beyond the core discussion on rooftop solar, the episode touches on several other timely topics:

1. President Elect Donald Trump's Tariff Plans: Announced tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada aimed at curbing drug and migrant issues, which may have significant implications for solar component prices.

2. Healthcare Policy Shifts: Contrasting future Trump administration policies with current Biden initiatives, particularly regarding the expansion of Medicare and Medicaid coverage for weight loss medications, highlighting ongoing debates in public health policy.

3. Upcoming Episodes: Teasers for future stories include the mystery of candied bacon and a deep dive into declining American birth rates.

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Final Thoughts

This episode of Post Reports offers a comprehensive exploration of the rooftop solar phenomenon, balancing its touted benefits against underlying economic and social challenges. Through insightful dialogue and expert perspectives, Martine Powers and Shannon Osaka provide listeners with a critical understanding of how individual choices intersect with broader energy policies and social equity.

For those considering rooftop solar, the episode underscores the importance of staying informed about both immediate incentives and long-term policy landscapes. It also calls for a collective approach to ensure that the transition to clean energy is both effective and equitable.

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Produced by Peter Bresnan and Ariel Plotnick, with contributions from Ilana Gordon, Justin Gerrish, Lucy Perkins, Rena Flores, Juliet Eilprin, and Dan Diamond.

Transcript

[Martine Powers]

Can you just introduce yourself and say who you are and what you do?

[Shannon Osaka]

I'm Shannon Osaka, and I'm the climate zeitgeist reporter for the Washington Post.

[Martine Powers]

Zeitgeist. I know climate zeitgeist.

[Shannon Osaka]

Basically just whatever is new and bubbling up in the climate space.

[Martine Powers]

You just cover whatever's in the ether on people's minds, the climate vibes. Recently, I sat down with Shannon because I wanted to ask her about something that has been bubb for me. So I am a homeowner. I bought a house a few years ago, and literally, as soon as I bought this house, I started hearing about rooftop solar panels. A few of my neighbors have solar panels on their roofs. And so I'd see the signs in the front of their yards, or as I got to know them, we'd talk about, like, ooh, your solar panels. And they'd be like, ah, my solar panels are so great. My. My bills are so cheap these days. And then I started getting ads in the mail, mail from companies that are like, hey, we could put solar panels on your roof for cheap. Just invite us over. And so that's all to say, I was really hyped about solar panels. I'm like, as soon as we get the money together, we're definitely going to put panels on our roof. And then I read your story, which, I mean, basically, it sounds like rooftop solar panels might be a bad thing. And I was like, what? I'm not supposed to get them on my roof?

[Shannon Osaka]

Now, I understand it can be devastating news for some people. Rooftop solar panels can be a good thing, but are they the best, most efficient, cheapest way for us to switch to clean energy? The story that I'm hearing from experts is not necessarily solar power is a.

[Martine Powers]

Key part of the transition to clean energy, and it's growing quickly. Rooftop solar has become a massive business in the last decade, which is why my mailbox has been filling up with all these solar panel ads.

[Shannon Osaka]

Solar energy, it's just. It's kind of like the poster child for clean energy. It's like it's coming directly from the sun. It requires very little maintenance or anything like that. You just install the panels and then they work. They provide power for years and years to come.

[Martine Powers]

But Shannon says that rooftop solar may actually be getting in the way of the transition to clean energy in the US from the news. Welcome to the newsroom of the Washington Post. This is Post Reports. I'm Martine powers. It's Tuesday, November 26th. Today, the promise and the potential pitfalls of rooftop solar Panels. Before we get more into the details of your reporting, I do just want to lay a little bit of the groundwork here about, like, how solar panels work and why they have ended up on a lot of people's routes. So talk to me about the promise of rooftop solar panels.

[Shannon Osaka]

The promise is amazing. I mean, the promise of rooftop solar panels is you pay this kind of large upfront cost, but then your bills, your electricity bills just plummet for years to come. You're saving thousands of dollars on your electricity. You're more independent from the grid. If you install a battery along with your rooftop solar panels, then that means that in the case of a blackout or something like that, you're fine. You can continue to power your home. So the promise is great. And there have been lots of people who have been making use of this over the years.

[Martine Powers]

Okay, so let's break down the benefits and challenges of rooftop solar. Let's start with what you learned in your reporting about the challenges. Why is the picture around rooftop solar a little bit more complicated?

[Shannon Osaka]

So I had a similar reaction to you when I first heard about this argument. I heard an expert say rooftop solar may not actually cut carbon emissions the way that we think. And I thought, wait, how could that be? What do you mean?

[Martine Powers]

That's literally the whole point, that they're supposed to cut carbon emissions.

[Shannon Osaka]

It is the whole point. And basically it's a little bit nuanced. But effectively, what some experts say is that rooftop solar is just not the most efficient way to get solar power onto the grid. Rooftop solar is just much more expensive than building large solar farms like out in the desert. Basically, imagine a place where you have hundreds of solar panels lined up across a big space out in the desert, out in the countryside. That's what we're talking about. And that's basically what we call utility scale solar, which means solar that's big enough to be hooked in with the major utility. One way to think about it is that it's a little bit like getting utility scale solar is like buying something in bulk at Costco. It's really cheap. You can get a ton of it at once. It's very efficient. And installing rooftop solar, it's a little bit more artisanal. It's like you're getting something that is specifically designed for your home, for your area. It takes a lot more people involved, a lot more craftsmanship, and by virtue of that, it's more expensive. It takes like a kind of bespoke process every time that you install them.

[Martine Powers]

Because your roof might not be the perfect pitch for where the sun is. And so then they have to kind of like rejigger it based on like the best angles you can get with the roof that you have.

[Shannon Osaka]

Exactly. And it's a long process. If you're meeting the contractor and they're meeting with the homeowners and making sure everyone understands what's going on. It's not the same as installing, you know, this half mile long solar panel out somewhere in Nevada or Utah. The concept of the experts that I was talking to is they were saying basically this can make the entire transition more expensive. If we're putting a lot of rooftop solar in, then that has, that creates less need for utility scale solar. So those huge solar farms, and that means that everything is going to be more expensive because rooftop solar is about almost four times more expensive than that utility scale solar. And if we do that, if we just continue doing a lot of rooftop solar, then the entire energy transition could cost a lot more than it needs to.

[Martine Powers]

Oh, interesting. So it sounds like what these experts at least are telling you is that in some cases, if you had a chunk of money, you want to use it to get more sustainable energy to help climate goals, that you should instead take that money and invest it in a solar farm out somewhere that's going to produce way more solar with the same amount of money than invest in putting it on your roof.

[Shannon Osaka]

Exactly. That's exactly it. And it's just basically, how do we want to allocate the funds? If we're thinking about this as a problem where we have finite money to devote to it, how do we want to do that?

[Martine Powers]

But then why do all these incentives exist to put the solar on my roof if they're saying this isn't actually the best way to go about things?

[Shannon Osaka]

This is a big and interesting debate. When a lot of these policies came out, there was very little solar going on in the US and so there was a real push to say we want to get solar out there, we want to get it going. And so maybe the easiest way to do that is on people's roofs. We're going to give them all of these benefits in terms of their electricity bills and in terms of buying the panels up front. And that will help jumpstart the solar economy. And I think that really worked. And now the question is, is it still a good idea that we're doing that and is it still a good idea in every place, for example, someplace like California, they have huge amounts of solar on the grid right now. A lot of it is Rooftop solar. And that can create a situation where you have a little bit of a solar glut at certain times.

[Martine Powers]

What does that mean, a solar glut?

[Shannon Osaka]

Yes, too much solar. So the problem with solar. Solar only works when the sun is shining. It's very straightforward. And so between, you know, the morning and the late afternoon is when solar panels are really doing their best and they are creating their peak power in the middle of the day when the sun is high. So the problem is that electricity has to be used as it's created unless you have like a giant battery to store it. And we don't have that many giant batteries on our grid right now. So if you are a state or a grid that has a ton of solar on the grid, then effectively there might be times in the day where you have to shut that solar off because you're producing so much and you're not really using all of that energy. And so the problem is that some experts I talked to explained it as like, there's kind of a solar shaped hole in the electricity grid in the middle of the day and we can fill that with either rooftop solar or utility solar. And one of those is going to be much cheaper than the other.

[Martine Powers]

Yeah, yeah. Well, one other thing that I thought was interesting from your reporting was that in some ways this is kind of an equity issue too, because, I mean, putting solar on your roof, even when you get some of the incentives and knowing that you're going to make back some of your money is not cheap. And I think, you know, I would imagine that a lot of people who are spending the money to do it are more likely to be wealthier folks, folks with more disposable income, that they can make this kind of upfront investment and that that is kind of having an effect on what happens to the power for people with less money.

[Shannon Osaka]

Yeah, that's absolutely right. So what we're seeing is that people who are wealthier, who obviously own their own homes and have higher income, usually over around $100,000 a year, these are the people who can afford to lay down tens of thousands of dollars upfront for rooftop solar and then say, you know, I'm going to make this money back, but it might take me seven to 10 years and they're fine with that. Whereas more middle class folks, lower income folks, they just can't afford to do that upfront. And a problem with this is that there are huge benefits in the electricity bills of people who switch to solar. And some of those benefits that they get, the costs are going on to people of lower and middle incomes who can't afford solar.

[Martine Powers]

Explain that part for me. Like, how is it that when you know, if you are a wealthier person, when you go to your rooftop solar and now you're just making your own energy and you're paying, like, five bucks a month in your power bill, that all of a sudden this is changing how much people with less money are paying for their power bill?

[Shannon Osaka]

Yes. So part of it is that if I have this big, beautiful house and I install solar panels on the roof, at a certain point, I'm not using all of my solar power, and so I'll export it to the grid, and the grid will pay me for the solar that I'm giving them. And so they'll be paying me, but because in certain states where there's so much solar, they're actually paying more for the solar to the homeowner than they're actually benefiting from it. And so that difference kind of gets pushed on to every other consumer of electricity on the grid. And so there's been some analyses of California, which has an issue with this, and researchers have estimated that between 4 billion to 6 and a half billion dollars was added to customers bills who don't have rooftop solar because of this.

[Martine Powers]

When I was thinking about how you were describing this in your story, I came up with a metaphor that I want to try to test out on you. And you tell me if you feel like it's an accurate way of describing in very simplistic terms, like, the dynamic that's kind of happening here. I mean, it sounds to me that it's sort of like if you lived in a big group house with a bunch of people, and you all were sharing a fridge, and everybody has their stuff that they need to put in the fridge, and they're like, okay, this is a shared cost. We power the fridge. We pay for the fridge. We pay for the repair guy to come fix the fridge when we need to, and we pay for that altogether. But then some of your richer roommates or housemates, they're like, you know what? I'm actually just gonna get my own mini fridge. I'm gonna put in my room, and I'm not gonna, like, worry about this big fridge anymore. And then if enough people are putting their own mini fridges in their room and paying for it themselves, then, you know, there are just, like, a few people left in the house paying for this big fridge that's now more expensive per person because everyone's not pooling their refrigeration Needs.

[Shannon Osaka]

I think that's an amazing metaphor and it reminds me of my time as a graduate student in the UK when I lived in and we had a minuscule fridge. But, but yes, it's, it's kind of, it's like a commons problem. It's where, you know, if people start kind of leaving the market, it leaves other people with higher expenses to keep up. And, you know, this doesn't mean that rooftop solar is terrible all the time. And I think that people who have installed it, they did it for really good reasons. The incentives were there. They were being encouraged to install it. That was a good thing. The question is, what should we do going forward?

[Martine Powers]

After the break, the argument in favor of rooftop solar panels. And if you are looking to invest in solar, Shannon explains why she recommends you act fast before Donald Trump takes office for his second term. We'll be right back. So, Shannon, you have just laid out a bunch of ways in which rooftop solar panels seem like they might not be the most efficient or most cost effective way to reduce emissions. So what's the other way to look at rooftop solar?

[Shannon Osaka]

Yes. Now that we've bashed on rooftop solar, let's bring it back a little bit. Because one of the big benefits of rooftop solar is it doesn't take up space. So it takes up just the space on your rooftop, you're not using it anyway. Versus, if you think about when we've started to install giant solar farms out in the west, for example, there are situations where they're interacting with habitats where there's endangered species that could be affected by installing these giant farms. The thing about renewables is they do take up a lot of space. Large scale wind and solar farms take about 10 times the space of coal and gas fired power plants. They just need more space. And, you know, sometimes that land can be used for multiple uses. Like you could have, you know, cows grazing next to the solar panels or under the wind turbines. But it does take up space. It can be hard to find that land, acquire that land.

[Martine Powers]

And I imagine that the original thought behind some of these solar incentives was just, look, let's just put solar wherever we can put it. If you put it on a roof, that's great. If you can put it in a big field, that's awesome. But we need to be making this change so aggressively that being nitpicky about where your solar is coming from is at cross purposes with where we're actually trying to get to.

[Shannon Osaka]

Absolutely. I think there's a lot of people who are just like all of the above. We need everything. We need all the types of renewables that we can get. And I think if you live in a state or an area that doesn't have very much solar right now, then it's still a good move because you don't know when they're going to be installing those big solar farms. It might take a long time. By doing it on your roof, you can help out.

[Martine Powers]

Thinking about some of those tensions that you highlighted earlier about the ways that there are concerns around the economics of rooftop solar and the effects that it's having on other people and whether it's actually the most cost effective way to invest money for renewables. What is the solution there? Are there things that folks are considering that would help even out some of those problems that you highlighted?

[Shannon Osaka]

I think the biggest thing is a lot of experts are saying we just need to not get rid of the incentives or anything like that, but just pare some of them back. Particularly when it comes to we talked about those electricity rates and how I can be selling power back to the grid for much more than it's useful to for the grid. I think that one suggestion is basically just making those closer in parity, making sure that if I'm selling my solar back to the utility, that they're only paying me basically for the benefits that they're getting from it. And that would make solar less affordable for certain people. But it would mean that you're only adding rooftop solar when it's really beneficial for the entire grid and not just the individual homeowner. At the same time, some people say, they argue that this kind of cost shift is not happening at all because they say the good thing about rooftop solar is that we don't have to install giant transmission lines and things like that. And so that's also a complicating factor.

[Martine Powers]

So, Shannon, in summary, should I get rooftop solar for my house? That's really all I care about here. What should I do? Or for other people who are listening to this and trying to figure out whether they want to make a decision like this, is it a good idea or is it not?

[Shannon Osaka]

The way I feel about it is like it should not be on the individual consumer to try to tackle all of these complicated questions, I think that if you live in an area that doesn't have a lot of solar, I think it's a good idea. I think you're helping move the process along and you're just making use of the incentives available to you. And it's up to policymakers to tweak Those incentives to make sure that they're beneficial to everyone. And the other thing is that if you install rooftop solar, I mean, as you're talking about, your neighbors have them, and then you were like, maybe I should get them as well. It's contagious. And also taking certain climate friendly actions can be contagious. So first you install solar panels and then you say, hey, you know, I could switch from gas heating to a heat pump because now my electricity is super cheap and I can electrify my gas stove and things like that. So I think there are a lot of benefits. I also think there are other individual actions that people can take that you know, aren't rooftop solar panels. You can switch to a plug in hybrid or an ev. You can do any of those. There's home retrofits, you can bike more. So there's lots of things you can do. It's very choose your own adventure though.

[Martine Powers]

I think one big question mark about this choose your own adventure scenario is what happens after President elect Donald Trump comes back into office? He's clearly much less bullish on the benefits of renewable energy. And there's a big question about whether some of these incentives could start changing after the new administration begins. What's the picture there and what do you expect from Donald Trump in terms of how he might transform energy policy and specifically how that would affect decision making for people who are thinking about rooftop solar or some of these other solutions that you just outlined?

[Shannon Osaka]

Yeah, I think it could be a huge change. So what I have been advising people is there were all of these tax credits and benefits in the Inflation Reduction Act. Some were for companies installing big solar farms, wind farms, et cetera, and some were for individual consumers. And if anything is going to get axed quickly, it's going to be those individual consumer benefits because they're just not very popular among Republicans. The EV tax credit in particular. Trump has already said that he really doesn't like it. He doesn't think it's a good idea. The other side of things is that Trump has talked a lot about doing really high tariffs on Chinese imports. And that's where a lot of these solar components come from. And so that could also increase prices. I don't think it's going to reverse the progress that we've seen in terms of solar prices, but it definitely could slow progress going forward. So if you want to take these individual actions and you want those federal benefits, the time to act is now. And basically in the next two months, there still will be state benefits and things like that. And we don't know exactly what will survive. Will the heat pump tax credit survive? Will the solar panel tax credit survive? There's lots of questions, but if you're sure that you want to take advantage, you should do so now.

[Martine Powers]

Shannon, thank you so much for walking me through all of this.

[Shannon Osaka]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Martine Powers]

Shannon Osaka is the climate Zeitgeist reporter for the Post. Before we go, a couple more stories we wanted to share with you. First, President Elect Donald Trump said Monday that one of his first acts in office will be to issue executive orders imposing new tariffs on imports from China, Mexico and Canada. Those are the three largest trading partners for the U.S. trump promised tariffs of 25% on Mexican and Canadian goods and 10% on Chinese merchandise. And the tariffs would be aimed at halting a, quote, invasion of drugs and migrants into the U.S. we also have an update to yesterday's episode. So on Monday, we talked about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. And how he could affect American healthcare if he becomes Secretary of Health and Human Services. We mentioned Kennedy's stance against Ozempic and other weight loss drugs and whether he had any power to limit Americans access to those drugs. Well, today the current administration is moving in the opposite direction. Biden's health agencies are pushing to expand coverage of weight loss medications for millions of people enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid. Our colleague Dan diamond interviewed the current HHS secretary, Javier Becerra, about this announcement.

[Shannon Osaka]

It's a game changer. It helps us recognize that obesity is it's severe, it's damaging our country's health, it's damaging our economy. All hands on deck. We gotta do everything we can.

[Martine Powers]

Under current rules, Medicare doesn't typically cover weight loss drugs. But officials announced today that they want to reinterpret the rules to acknowledge obesity as a chronic disease. It's a late term change that officials said would boost public health, and it puts pressure on the incoming Trump administration to finalize the benefit. That's it for Post Reports. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow on the podcast, we're bringing you a story that's a bit off the news. It's a mystery about a question that has plagued a reporter for years. And it's all about bacon. Specifically candied bacon. Listen out for that story on Wednesday. On Thursday, we'll go dark for Thanksgiving. And then on Friday, we're bringing you a fascinating conversation about why Americans are having fewer children and whether it's a problem at all. So you'll definitely want to check in with us after the holiday to hear that. Today's show was produced by Peter Bresnan and Ariel Plotnick, with help from Ilana Gordon. It was mixed by Justin Gerrish and edited by Lucy Perkins, with help from Rena Flores. Thanks also to Juliet Eilprin and Dan Diamond. I'm Martine Powers. We'll be back tomorrow with more stories from the Washington Post.