Solar in Alameda.

Last updated: September 16, 2026

How AMP handles solar

AMP's current program for new solar customers is Eligible Renewable Generation (ERG), which replaced its older net energy metering plan. NEM closed to new customers in 2017; homeowners already on it keep it for twenty years from their interconnection date.

Under ERG, excess energy you send to AMP's grid comes back as a monthly bill credit, valued at what AMP avoids paying for renewable power it would otherwise buy. That's a different structure from PG&E's hourly avoided-cost schedule, and it means the self-consumption calculation on the Island is its own problem — not the one the rest of the East Bay is solving.

One practical note in homeowners' favor: AMP waives its residential interconnection application fee for homes built before January 1, 2020, which covers the large majority of Alameda's housing stock. Program terms do change, so confirm the current rules with AMP directly — or let me do it as part of the project.

What Alameda roofs are like

The Island is a good place to put solar, for reasons that have nothing to do with policy:

• It's flat and it's open. No hills throwing afternoon shade the way Montclair and the Berkeley hills do, and far fewer mature redwoods over the roofline.
• Marine layer, not heat. Morning fog costs you some production, but panels are more efficient cool than hot. Alameda summers are kinder to an array than an inland valley's.
• A lot of Victorian and Edwardian housing. Beautiful, and complicated to work on: steep pitches, multiple small roof planes, ornate trim, and sometimes knob-and-tube remnants inside. Expect a more careful layout and more labor than a simple ranch.
• Older electrical service. Common on the Island, and worth checking before anything else — see the panel guide.

Batteries on the Island

The battery question is genuinely different here. Elsewhere in the East Bay the case is dominated by the gap between PG&E's export credit and its retail rate, which is severe. Under AMP the spread is structured differently, so the arbitrage argument I'd make in Oakland doesn't transfer automatically to Alameda. Backup through an outage, on the other hand, is worth exactly what it's worth to you regardless of utility.

I'd rather work this out from your actual AMP bill than from a rule of thumb imported from the mainland. The general reasoning is in do I need a battery — just read it knowing the export-rate half applies to PG&E customers, not to you.

Working here

I'm in Oakland, about fifteen minutes from most Alameda addresses, and I've done a lot of work on the Island. The permit process runs through the City of Alameda and the interconnection through AMP, and I handle both. You should not have to learn either one to put panels on your own house.