--- title: How California Solar Panel Decision Affects Energy Industry description: California will require that new homes include their own solar panels beginning in 2020 state officials said Wednesday. canonical: https://time.com/5272843/california-solar-panel/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-10T19:12:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:14:35.421Z article:section: Politics og:title: California's Solar Panel Requirement Could Transform the U.S. Energy Industry og:description: "This is potentially the beginning of what we'll see across America." og:url: https://time.com/5272843/california-solar-panel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe164306b03edd3f/69892fd4929fad0222bf07dc/solar-power-gettyimages-488647703.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: A SolarCity Installation As Earnings Figures Are Released og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: California's Solar Panel Requirement Could Transform the U.S. Energy Industry twitter:description: "This is potentially the beginning of what we'll see across America." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe164306b03edd3f/69892fd4929fad0222bf07dc/solar-power-gettyimages-488647703.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # California's Requirement for Residential Solar Panels Could Transform the U.S. Energy Industry > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent May 10, 2018 7:12 PM UTC  An employee installs a solar panel on the roof of a home in Los Angeles. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images An employee installs a solar panel on the roof of a home in Los Angeles. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent May 10, 2018 7:12 PM UTC California will require that [new homes include their own solar panels](http://time.com/5271892/california-solar-panels-new-homes/) beginning in 2020, state officials announced Wednesday in the latest step to position the state as the leader in clean energy. The decision, praised wholeheartedly by the solar industry, has the potential not just to grow demand for solar panels in the country’s most populous state but also to reshape the debate about how solar technology should be used. For years, researchers and clean energy advocates have debated the best way to use solar technology — whether its most effective in large utility-scale power plants or on the roofs of homes and businesses. Consumers like being able to control their rooftop energy source, but opponents of rooftop solar argued that it is significantly more expensive than solar power from large power plants. The unanimous decision from the California Energy Commission signals that rooftop solar is here to stay — and just as an afterthought for wealthy individuals who care about the environment. And, while California’s market is huge on its own, the bigger potential comes if other states follow suit. That has happened with a whole range of energy and environmental policy, from the 13 states that follow California’s emissions standards to the 28 that followed California’s lead in setting a minimum level of renewables in their electricity mix. **Read More:** [_What President Trump’s Tariff on Solar Panels Means for American Jobs_](http://time.com/5118049/donald-trump-tariff-solar-panels/) Such a shift could mean a big change in the solar business. Thomas Werner, CEO of Sun Power, a leading U.S. solar company, said he expects residential solar installations to grow from 10% of his business to 20% after the mandate takes effect. “This is potentially the beginning of what we’ll see across America,” says Thomas Werner, CEO of Sun Power, a leading U.S. solar company. “If California proves that it’s something that consumers want and the economics work, then the other 28 states will follow.” More residential solar also concerns big utility companies whose business relies on building big infrastructure to ship electricity to consumers. Utilities have argued that too many customers moving away from getting their electricity from the grid could threaten their business model — and eventually their ability to provide reliable power. To that end, utilities have [spent lobbying dollars](http://time.com/4270361/after-years-of-torrid-growth-residential-solar-power-faces-serious-growing-pains/) trying to kill policies that allow residential solar to survive including rules that allow customers with solar panels to sell excess electricity back to the grid. The fight isn’t over, but California’s move signals that utilities need to think about how to adapt their business. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5272843/california-solar-panel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5272843/california-solar-panel/"},"headline":"California's Requirement for Residential Solar Panels Could Transform the U.S. Energy Industry","datePublished":"2018-05-10T19:12:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:14:35.421Z","description":"\"This is potentially the beginning of what we'll see across America\"","url":"https://time.com/5272843/california-solar-panel/","keywords":["energy","California","Environment","Solar Power","Renewable energy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe164306b03edd3f/69892fd4929fad0222bf07dc/solar-power-gettyimages-488647703.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe164306b03edd3f/69892fd4929fad0222bf07dc/solar-power-gettyimages-488647703.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A SolarCity Installation As Earnings Figures Are Released","caption":"A SolarCity Installation As Earnings Figures Are Released","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/energy/","name":"energy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5272843/california-solar-panel/","name":"California's Requirement for Residential Solar Panels Could Transform the U.S. Energy Industry"}}]}] ```