[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":346},["ShallowReactive",2],{"page-\u002Ffor-businesses":3,"author-mike":309},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bare":7,"body":8,"dateModified":284,"datePublished":284,"description":285,"extension":286,"howToSteps":287,"kits":287,"layout":288,"meta":289,"navigation":290,"path":291,"schemaType":292,"seo":293,"sources":294,"stem":301,"targetKeywords":302,"titleTag":307,"translationOf":287,"__hash__":308},"content\u002Ffor-businesses.md","Plug-in solar for small businesses","mike",false,{"type":9,"value":10},"minimark",[11,18,23,26,29,84,96,99,103,111,114,127,130,136,140,146,152,158,164,168,259,263,266,269,275,281],[12,13,14],"answer-box",{},[15,16,17],"p",{},"The economics are better for a business than for a home, for one reason: you're open when the sun is up. A house uses about 60 percent of what its panels make because nobody's there at midday. A café, a salon, an office uses nearly all of it. Same panel, same price, roughly 40 percent more back. The catch is that SB 868 is written around \"dwelling units,\" so a commercial storefront sits in murkier legal territory than an apartment.",[19,20,22],"h2",{"id":21},"why-a-shop-does-better-than-a-house","Why a shop does better than a house",[15,24,25],{},"Everything about plug-in solar comes down to one ratio: how much of what you make do you use as you make it? Power you use is worth the full retail rate. Power you export is worth nothing.",[15,27,28],{},"A business that's open from nine to six is consuming continuously through the exact hours a panel is producing. Lights, refrigeration, point-of-sale, espresso machine, air conditioning. There's almost no surplus to give away.",[30,31,32,47],"table",{},[33,34,35],"thead",{},[36,37,38,41,44],"tr",{},[39,40],"th",{},[39,42,43],{},"Typical home",[39,45,46],{},"Typical daytime business",[48,49,50,62,73],"tbody",{},[36,51,52,56,59],{},[53,54,55],"td",{},"Share of production consumed on site",[53,57,58],{},"~60%",[53,60,61],{},"85–95%",[36,63,64,67,70],{},[53,65,66],{},"Estimated value, 1,200W in Orange County",[53,68,69],{},"~$376\u002Fyr",[53,71,72],{},"~$530–$590\u002Fyr",[36,74,75,78,81],{},[53,76,77],{},"Best use of a battery",[53,79,80],{},"Shifts midday surplus to evening peak",[53,82,83],{},"Less useful — you're already using it",[15,85,86],{},[87,88,89,90,95],"em",{},"Estimated. Based on 1,900 kWh a year from a tilted 1,200-watt array and a 33-cent blended rate. Commercial rates vary more than residential ones; see below. ",[91,92,94],"a",{"href":93},"\u002Fmethodology","Full working",".",[15,97,98],{},"There's a second, smaller point. A business on a commercial rate plan may be paying a demand charge based on its highest fifteen-minute draw in a month. A panel producing during your busiest afternoon can shave a little off that peak. It's a modest effect at 1,200 watts and we wouldn't build a case on it, but it's real.",[19,100,102],{"id":101},"the-honest-complication","The honest complication",[15,104,105,106,110],{},"SB 868 defines the device by reference to a ",[107,108,109],"strong",{},"dwelling unit"," — the 1,200-watt cap is \"per dwelling unit,\" and the framing throughout is residential. A café in a strip mall is not a dwelling unit.",[15,112,113],{},"What that means in practice is genuinely unsettled. The plausible readings:",[115,116,117,121,124],"ul",{},[118,119,120],"li",{},"The exemption simply doesn't reach commercial premises, and a business installing one is in the same position as before the bill — needing to talk to the utility.",[118,122,123],{},"The utility declines to pursue a 900-watt device on a storefront patio because it isn't worth anyone's time.",[118,125,126],{},"The CPUC or the utilities clarify it in implementation, one way or the other.",[15,128,129],{},"We don't know which. Nobody does yet, because the bill isn't law. This is the single question we're chasing hardest, and we'll publish the answer the moment there is one. There is no published utility or CPUC guidance on commercial applicability as of 1 September 2026.",[15,131,132,135],{},[107,133,134],{},"What we'd do in the meantime:"," if you want to move before there's clarity, a zero-export device — one that throttles its output so nothing ever flows back to the grid — takes the interconnection question off the table, because there's nothing to interconnect. It costs a little more and produces a little less. It's the conservative choice and for a business with a lease and an insurer, conservative is usually right.",[19,137,139],{"id":138},"the-other-people-who-get-a-say","The other people who get a say",[15,141,142,145],{},[107,143,144],{},"Your landlord."," Commercial leases are stricter about alterations than residential ones, and often have specific language about the exterior of the premises, signage, and anything visible from the street. Read the alterations clause before you buy. The good news is that a clamped-on panel with a removal plan is the easiest kind of request to say yes to.",[15,147,148,151],{},[107,149,150],{},"Your insurer."," A plug-in appliance isn't a building alteration, but anything mounted outside that could come loose in wind is something a commercial policy may want to know about. One email to your broker, before the panel arrives.",[15,153,154,157],{},[107,155,156],{},"Your city."," Balcony and walkway obstruction rules, egress, and anything to do with a fire lane. SB 868 binds utilities, not building departments.",[15,159,160,163],{},[107,161,162],{},"Your landlord's other tenants",", if you share a patio or a wall.",[19,165,167],{"id":166},"what-wed-actually-recommend-by-business-type","What we'd actually recommend by business type",[30,169,170,183],{},[33,171,172],{},[36,173,174,177,180],{},[39,175,176],{},"Business",[39,178,179],{},"Verdict",[39,181,182],{},"Why",[48,184,185,196,207,217,227,238,249],{},[36,186,187,190,193],{},[53,188,189],{},"Café or restaurant",[53,191,192],{},"Best fit",[53,194,195],{},"Refrigeration and espresso run continuously through peak sun",[36,197,198,201,204],{},[53,199,200],{},"Salon, barber, nail bar",[53,202,203],{},"Good",[53,205,206],{},"Steady daytime draw, dryers and lighting",[36,208,209,212,214],{},[53,210,211],{},"Small office",[53,213,203],{},[53,215,216],{},"Nine-to-five load profile matches production almost exactly",[36,218,219,222,224],{},[53,220,221],{},"Retail shop",[53,223,203],{},[53,225,226],{},"Lighting and HVAC through opening hours",[36,228,229,232,235],{},[53,230,231],{},"Warehouse or workshop",[53,233,234],{},"Depends",[53,236,237],{},"Often plenty of sun and roof, in which case look at real rooftop solar instead",[36,239,240,243,246],{},[53,241,242],{},"Bar or evening venue",[53,244,245],{},"Poor",[53,247,248],{},"You're closed when the panel is producing, and export is worth nothing",[36,250,251,254,256],{},[53,252,253],{},"Anything with a north-facing frontage and no other aspect",[53,255,245],{},[53,257,258],{},"The orientation kills it before anything else matters",[19,260,262],{"id":261},"where-youd-put-it","Where you'd put it",[15,264,265],{},"Businesses usually have better options than a balcony railing. A flat awning, a south-facing wall, a patio fence, the sunny end of a parking area, a courtyard. A ground-mounted frame in a service yard is often the easiest of all, because nobody has to look at it.",[15,267,268],{},"The constraint is the same as at home: a standard 120-volt outlet within cord reach, outdoors or reached safely, and no more than 1,200 watts total.",[15,270,271],{},[91,272,274],{"href":273},"\u002Fwizard","Work out what your premises would save →",[276,277],"newsletter-capture",{"body":278,"button":279,"heading":280},"The dwelling unit question is the one we're chasing. You'll hear the moment there's a real answer.","Keep me posted","We'll tell you when the rules for businesses get clarified",[282,283],"sources-block",{},"2026-09-01","A shop open during the day uses nearly all of what a panel makes, where a home uses about 60%. The catch: SB 868 is written around dwelling units.","md",null,"article",{},true,"\u002Ffor-businesses","Article",{"title":5,"description":285},[295,298],{"title":296,"url":297,"accessed":284},"SB 868 bill text, Public Utilities Code §8530(c)","https:\u002F\u002Fleginfo.legislature.ca.gov\u002Ffaces\u002FbillTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB868",{"title":299,"url":300,"accessed":284},"SCE business rate plans","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.sce.com\u002Fbusiness\u002Frates","for-businesses",[303,304,305,306],"solar for small business California","plug in solar commercial California","balcony solar business","SB 868 commercial","Plug-In Solar for California Small Businesses | SB 868","zdPmyPjbvkoIIludGXOlxuQ8du7BNHRkw0JDK8CEpTA",{"id":310,"title":311,"body":312,"description":337,"email":336,"extension":286,"location":338,"meta":339,"name":318,"navigation":290,"path":340,"photo":341,"role":342,"sameAs":287,"seo":343,"stem":344,"__hash__":345},"authors\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.md","Mike",{"type":9,"value":313},[314,320,323,327,330],[15,315,316,319],{},[107,317,318],{},"Mike Yu"," started SmallSolarCo after working out that a plug-in panel was the only kind of solar available to him — he rents in Irvine with a west-facing balcony and no roof of his own. He is not an electrician, a solar installer, or a lawyer, and the site says so wherever it matters. He has a background building web products, and built the savings model here himself, using NREL irradiance data and Southern California Edison's published rates.",[15,321,322],{},"Since September 2026 he has been running a plug-in kit on that balcony and logging what it actually produces. Every measured figure on this site comes from that kit. Everything else is labelled as an estimate.",[19,324,326],{"id":325},"editorial-independence","Editorial independence",[15,328,329],{},"We don't accept review units on terms that involve anyone approving the review first. If a manufacturer sends us a kit, we say so on the review, and we keep the right to publish a bad one.",[15,331,332,333,95],{},"Reach him at ",[91,334,336],{"href":335},"mailto:hello@smallsolarco.com","hello@smallsolarco.com","Mike Yu started SmallSolarCo after working out that a plug-in panel was the only kind of solar available to him — he rents in Irvine with a west-facing balcony and no roof of his own. He is not an electrician, a solar installer, or a lawyer, and the site says so wherever it matters. He has a background building web products, and built the savings model here himself, using NREL irradiance data and Southern California Edison's published rates.","Irvine, California",{},"\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike","\u002Fimages\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.jpg","Founder",{"description":337},"authors\u002Fmike","kb0uodhMlGk_YV3nMOIXdr6bpZgtB5zNoRxdGxsXMQ8",1788387857474]