The NJ Assembly and Senate has sent a bill (S-1925) designed to rescue the floundering Solar Industry from collapsing. Assemblyman Bob Smith explained: "We are a victim of our own success. We've had so much solar built in New Jersey and so many SRECs available that the market for these Solar Renewable Energy Credits (once selling at $600 and now under $100 per credit) has crashed and there are lots of unintended consequences." Read Senate Floor StatementAmong those unintended consequences:
1. Public entities caught in a squeeze - Counties and municipalities contracting for the installation of solar energy projects are finding that the SREC prices are not high enough to repay the public bonds floated to finance the projects. If a project already is under way, taxpayers are stuck with the bill for the shortfall. If a project has not yet started, it likely will never get off the ground.
2. Negative future for private projects - Bankers often look at SRECs as collateral, providing them with the confidence to lend money for construction. If the fluctuating value of the solar credit cannot be relied upon to remain sufficiently high over the life of the loan, banks won't take the risk.
The bottom line is what Smith describes as a "crisis." Without a prompt legislative solution to stabilize solar credits, the market will dry up and scores of solar-installation companies will fail and jobs will be lost.
Business organizations worried about costs; Representatives of the NJ Business and Industry Association, NJ Chamber of Commerce, and the Chemistry Council of NJ, cautioned against additional government mandates that would drive New Jersey's already high energy prices even higher.
Noting that the program will reach $190 million by 2016--and that the state's largest employers will bear 60 percent of that cost--the Chemistry Council's Hal Bozarth said: "At some point the Legislature has to say to the solar industry: we're cutting you loose."
At the end of the last session,similar legislation passed both houses but was vetoed by the governor. Gov. Christie Proposes Alternative To Solar Energy Legislation In N.J].
Read more details about the legislation in: Can the State Save New Jersey's Solar Sector?
Our View: The so called Solar Industry has been a thorn in the side of Electrical Contractors since its inception. Many Solar Energy Contractors are not Electrical Contractors as the 1962 Electrical Contractors Licensing Law dictates. Many Unlicensed Solar Contractors violate the law day in and day out. In fact every time they install Solar Panels utilizing their employees who are not Licensed or qualified to do so they commit a Felony in the State of New Jersey.
These Solar Contractors sub contract Licensed Electrical Contractors only to make the final connections, and they would not do that if the Electrical Industry did not engage the help of the Electrical Licensing Board and Electrical Inspectors across the state to ensure the installation of Solar Panels work is done by Licensed Contractors. The Electrical Contractors that are accepting this work are hurting the very industry in which they make their living. The Electrical Contractors enabling these violations are Not Electrical Contractors that run Professional Electrical Contracting Businesses In the State of New Jersey.
At some point the Solar Industry will have to stand on its own two feet. Cost for Solar Panels and equipment will not come down to more affordable levels until Solar subsidies are eliminated.
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