Peter Carlseen kicks off The Property Playbook with solar expert Tommy Linnik of PowurPBC, who got into solar about a decade ago when the industry was “on a rocket ship” and apparently forgot to install seatbelts. Since then, solar has been a wild ride—especially in California—thanks to rising interest rates and policy shifts that knocked out big-name companies like dominoes. The biggest shake-up? Net metering is basically gone. Homeowners used to get paid real money for sending extra solar power back to the grid; now they get paid roughly enough to buy half a gumball. Moral of the story: the utility company is no longer your solar savings account.

Because of that change, solar today isn’t just about panels—it’s about batteries. Instead of giving cheap power away to the grid, homeowners now want to hoard it like squirrels with acorns. Battery storage keeps energy in-house, protects against outages, and plays nicely with new programs like virtual power plants, where homeowners can actually get paid for helping stabilize the grid during high-demand events. Meanwhile, the grid itself is aging like a dinosaur with a flip phone—outages are way up, costs are skyrocketing, and utilities keep passing the bill to customers while approving their own projects. No wonder energy security has replaced “saving a few bucks” as the main motivation for going solar.

For landlords and homeowners, Tommy makes the case that solar can turn an annoying monthly bill into a long-term asset—boosting property value, attracting better tenants, and making thousand-dollar summer electric bills slightly less soul-crushing. In California especially, solar without batteries is basically a wasted opportunity, and incentives now focus heavily on storage. Tommy also emphasizes a no-pressure, consultative approach (unlike that one Kirby vacuum I regret buying), encouraging people to get educated, get multiple opinions, and work with someone who actually understands how fast this industry changes. Bottom line: solar is still worth it—but only if you design it smart, add batteries, and don’t expect the utility company to play fair.

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