California advances community solar, balcony solar and virtual power plant bills

The package targets several distributed-energy models that could expand participation beyond conventional rooftop solar. Community solar and balcony solar would open additional routes for renters, multifamily residents and customers with unsuitable roofs, while virtual power plant rules could make aggregated flexible assets more valuable to the grid. The committee delay for smart-meter data access remains important because granular customer data can determine how quickly these models scale.