Solar power still accounts for only 0.4% of U.S. electricity generation, but many utilities are still worried that distributed, rooftop power is a major threat to their industry.
43 states and the District of Columbia allow homes with solar panels to sell their excess power back to utilities at retail rates, and “that’s a genuine problem for utilities,” Vox reports. “All these solar households are buying less and less electricity, but the utilities still have to manage the costs of hooking them up to the grid. Indeed, a new study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory argues that this could soon put utilities in dire straits. If rooftop solar were to grab 10% of the market over the next decade, utility earnings could decline as much as 41%.” (h/t to Environmental Entrepreneurs, for pointing us to this story)
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