California became the first state in the nation last year to require solar panels on newly built homes.
But it’s starting to look like the mandate wasn’t quite a mandate.
The California Energy Commission also gave home builders the option of supplying solar power from an off-site facility, mollifying critics who said rooftop solar would raise the cost of housing. Now the commission is poised to approve the first off-site solar program for new housing — over the objections of home solar installers, who say the agency is creating an escape clause so broad it could render the rooftop solar requirement meaningless.