California solar and the lithium battery MESS | The Buzz

Jeff Spies, president of Planet Plan Sets, is increasingly concerned that the solar and storage industry is facing the biggest safety challenge of its 50-year history. Solar Builder published the article The Lithium Battery MESS in our Q3 2024 magazine, explaining why. This episode of The Buzz is digs deeper into differentiating safe and legal home batteries, and how decisions by California regulators have helped set the market conditions giving rise to this Lithium Battery MESS.

0:10 - Overview of the lithium battery MESS in California

2:15 - How safe are UL 9540 listed batteries?

4:56 – Influx of unlisted batteries & deceptive marketing

9:08 – The Catch-22 of California battery policy and permitting

13:25 – LFP vs. NMC. Is one better than the other?

17:46 – Did the CPUC create this MESS?

19:36 – What are regulators doing to ensure safe battery installations?

21:30 – Can you blame California homeowners for buying unpermitted batteries?

25:39 – Legal cheap batteries vs. illegal cheap batteries

30:39 – Advice for solar installers navigating all of this

35:03 – How to ensure you’re installing a safe and legal energy storage system

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Contact Jeff: https://www.planetplansets.com/