Did you know California has the largest installed solar capacity of any U.S. state, as much as the next six top solar producing states combined? Solar installations in California can support over seven million households. In unincorporated San Diego County, over 6,000 solar permits produced 324,543 megawatt hour (MW-h) of electricity in 2018.

Through the County’s Climate Action Plan Measure E-2.3, Install Solar Photovoltaics in Existing Homes, obtaining a permit to install a rooftop solar system on your home is an easy, streamlined process.

Background and Benefits of Installing Solar Panels

Solar energy can be captured in a wide variety of ways, from thermo-energy systems, to Concentrated Solar power (CSP) and Photovoltaic systems. Photovoltaic (PV) solar systems are most commonly associated with solar electricity production due to their widespread use in the last two decades. These are the dark-blue panels that dot rooftops, parking lots and sun-facing hillsides and open spaces. PV panels we see are actually large clusters of solar cells, each made with semiconductors which absorb a tiny fraction of the sun’s energy and convert it to electricity.

A solar installation in San Diego County can dramatically reduce monthly electricity bills and even earn a household money through selling electricity back into the grid. Solar systems can have high up-front costs, but multiple federal and state level programs can soften these costs, and the system can pay for itself in a few years, after which all the electricity generated is ‘free’. Other benefits that go beyond cost savings include the zero-carbon output of generating electricity from solar, off-grid capabilities for power outage situations, and real estate benefits of having a solar system installed in a house.