The California Legislature has passed Senate Bill 868, also known as the Plug and Play Solar Act, which would remove the regulatory barriers that have kept small plug-in solar systems out of reach for millions of apartment, condo, and single-family home residents across the state.
The bill now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom for his signature.
Authored by Senator Scott Wiener and sponsored by the Environmental Working Group and the Abundance Network, SB 868 would allow homeowners and renters to purchase portable balcony solar panels from retailers and plug them in without first obtaining an interconnection agreement from their utility.
All systems must be certified by Underwriters Laboratories or an equivalent national testing lab and must automatically shut off within seconds of a grid outage to protect utility workers and prevent electrical hazards. System size is capped at 1,200 watts.
“This is the most exciting clean energy idea around,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, EWG’s senior vice president for California, in a statement. “With this bill, California is poised to fling its doors wide open to a real, tangible affordability solution for everyday consumers.
The bill includes a sunset provision on the interconnection exemption set to expire January 1, 2030, added at the request of California’s investor-owned utilities, though the Legislature retains the ability to extend it in the future.
In California, where electricity rates have nearly doubled over the past decade and the state ranks second nationally for energy prices, SB 868 is seen as a practical tool for helping residents reduce bills amid increasing extreme heat events.
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