California Batteries Just Killed Negative Daytime Solar Prices

California Batteries Just Killed Negative Daytime Solar Prices

From Clean Power Hour by Tim Montague, John Weaver

April 21, 2026 · 45 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the impact of California's daytime pricing shift on solar energy and battery demand.

John Weaver calls California's daytime pricing shift the story of the year. Battery demand has pushed wholesale solar prices from negative five cents per kilowatt hour up by 4.2 cents, adding around $10,833 of revenue to solar asset owners in a single five-minute period. Tim Montague and John Weaver break down what this shift means for solar developers, plus community solar crossing 10 gigawatts, BYD's 14.5 megawatt-hour battery priced at 1.4 cents per kilowatt hour lifecycle cost, and Dean S...

People in this episode

Host: Tim Montague

Guest: John Weaver

Topics covered

  • solar energy
  • battery demand
  • wholesale pricing
  • community solar
  • renewable energy

Keywords

  • California
  • solar prices
  • battery demand
  • community solar
  • renewable energy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BYD

Places: California

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