The bigger factor is that he's renting, and therefore whether the jurisdiction has net metering or not doesn't matter.

But he's in San Francisco and California does not have net metering. I've been considering doing something like this as any grid-tied system is about $3/W for power, plus $500/kWh for storage. But an off-grid system done on your own is about $0.60/W plus $200/kWh for storage.