SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When California finalized the nation's first sweeping rooftop solar mandate for new construction last year, advocates pictured a utopia of all homes being built with solar panels, turning the clunky panels into the new norm to help the state achieve state carbon neutrality.
However, the California Energy Commission on Thursday may allow a utility in Sacramento to offer homeowners an alternative. Instead of requiring all new single family and low-rise homes to install rooftop solar, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District [SMUD] would build its own large scale solar farms customers can tap into.
The case is widely watched as it's the first test of the solar mandate, which took effect in January. Critics say the proposal undercuts the solar requirement.
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