Is PG&E Using Fuzzy Math For Solar Numbers?
Why is solar growing faster in Northern California than in Southern California, arguably a more amenable climate for solar? While political and social factors are often cited, part of the explanation lies in accounting too. Pacific Gas & Electric, the big utility in the North, rates the size of a solar panel installations by the capacity of the inverter, the electrical box that converts DC from the panels into household AC, said Chuck Hornbrook, senior manager of PG&E’s solar and customer generation group, during a lunch meeting sponsored by the organizers ofIntersolar North America, a solar trade show taking place in San Francisco the week of July 13. Southern California Edison uses a state-sponsored formula tied closer to the actual output of the panels. In solar installations, the inverter capacity in invariably larger than the actual potential output. As a result, PG&E’s measure of a solar system output is about 13 percent higher than what other utilities would rate the same solar
