Appreciation post: My local solar panel buyback program in Sacramento fell through after 8 months of paperwork.

Simon Anderson · 2026-03-11T14:35:04.732466+00:00

The city's grid capacity limit was hit, so my approved installation is now on hold indefinitely, which makes me question if these incentive programs are really built for scale. Has anyone found a reliable workaround for this?

sarah5316mo ago

That "hidden step" is the whole system working as it should, though. It's stopping a project that would overload local gear and cause bigger problems.

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tyler67mo ago

So what's the backup plan now?

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derek_singh7mo ago

Honestly the real bottleneck nobody talks about is the transformer on your street. Even if the grid had room, that old piece of hardware might not handle the extra load. I'd call the utility and ask them to check its capacity, because sometimes they have to upgrade those before any house on the block can add solar. It's a hidden step that stalls a lot of projects.

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