Sacramento – The $737 billion federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed by President Biden this week, left solar companies predicting blockbuster growth with one CEO even calling the bill a “big boom” and positing that previous positive solar industry growth projections are “absolutely going to be shredded.” The bill includes hundreds of billions in subsidies for clean energy, including for rooftop solar.

According to an August 11th summary includes hundreds of billions for Energy Security and Climate Change, which would include rooftop solar subsidies, further assuring the robust growth for the industry for years to come.

Contrary to widespread claims by the solar industry that NEM reform in California is going to “kill solar,” Mary Grace Powell, CEO & Director, Sunrun, noted on the company’s second quarter earnings call that Sunrun currently has “really strong growth, surging customer demand.” She noted that with passage of the IRA, “opportunity for robustly quicker growth is significant.”

Passage of the IRA comes at a critical time in the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) review of the state’s rooftop solar subsidies program, Net Energy Metering (NEM). Under NEM Californians pay the highest subsidies of any state in the country and those subsidies are disproportionately paid by renters and low-income Californians who are least likely to afford or have rooftop solar.

“For 25 years and more than 1 million rooftops so far, Californians have done more than our part to jump start and assure the longevity of solar energy,” said Kathy Fairbanks with Affordable Clean Energy for All. “With more generous federal subsidies flowing to the solar industry, it is now indefensible for renters and low-income Californians to continue to pay higher electricity bills simply to pad the projected profits of publicly traded rooftop solar companies.”

Here is what Rooftop Solar Industry CEOs are Telling Investors:

“While some in the investment community have begun to question the outlook of our industry in both the near and midterm, we remain bullish due to the following reasons. We have a sizable backlog. As of today, we have originated all the customers needed to meet our 2022 customer additions guidance and have begun to originate for 2023.”
William Jackson Berger
Chairman, President & CEO Sunnova – July 28, 2022, Earnings call

“… with this bill, I think any growth forecast for 2023, certainly for us, I can speak for that, but I would think for the industry are absolutely going to be shredded. I think this is going to be a big boom time in our industry.”
William Jackson Berger
Chairman, President & CEO Sunnova – July 28, 2022, Earnings call

“Obviously, this is a big bang for our industry in a material way…. if you had to write a bill that was perfect for our company as a residential energy service provider like a Sunnova, this bill would be the perfect bill…. the ITC [investment tax credit] extension, most importantly, and that was what 90% of what we wanted is now done on a 10-year basis.”
William Jackson Berger
Chairman, President & CEO Sunnova – July 28, 2022, Earnings call

“California will make up, I predict, in the next couple of years a smaller and smaller portion of our overall sales just by definition as the geographies greatly expand due to the global energy crisis.”
William Jackson Berger
Chairman, President & CEO Sunnova – July 28, 2022, Earnings call

“….it’s a long-term extension of the credit which is also helpful. So, with those elements and obviously, against the backdrop of just rapidly escalating commodity and electricity prices, we think that the opportunity for robustly quicker growth is significant.”
Mary Grace Powell
CEO & Director, Sunrun, August 3, 2022, Earnings Call

“I mean, we’re sitting at a place of like really strong growth surging customer demand, right? And then with a potential passage of a bill that is going to encourage more Americans to move faster towards electrification, which means more Americans are going to also want to move faster, not just to the other kinds of electrification products we can help them with, but with the ability to generate their own energy that is way more affordable, reliable and energy independence. So, we really believe, as I said, that we’re on the precipice of really some monumental and impactful practical ways, but seismic ways in terms of the drive towards electrification and the surging demand. That’s going to turbo charge around the need for solar energy.”
Mary Grace Powell
CEO & Director, Sunrun, August 3, 2022, Earnings Call