Definition: Clean technology (“cleantech”) law concerns the production, distribution and development of clean technologies. Cleantech law became recognized as a specialty around the beginning of the 21st century. Energy law first becoming recognized as a specialty following the energy crises in the 1970s. Similarly, cleantech law developed following a consensus among top scientists around the…
The California Solar Rights Act (“Act”), enacted in 1978, limits the ability of governing documents and associations (“Associations”) of common interest developments to prevent the installation of solar energy systems. Specifically, California Civil Code § 714(a) of the Act prohibits any provision of the developments governing documents from “effectively prohibit[ing] or restrict[ing] the installation or…
In many jurisdictions, “Shared Solar” projects are becoming increasingly popular due to a mix of legislative and administrative policies and the decline in system costs. The term “Shared Solar” simply refers to multiple participants benefiting from a solar array. California’s shared solar legislation is in the form of Virtual Net Energy Metering (“NEMV”) for multi-tenant…
In the early stages of running a company, many people should consider setting up their businesses as a C Corp with an “S” election, at least until a specific investment/investor is on the table. An S corp is subject to certain restrictions, which could be undesirable limitations such as the requirement that they only have…
