Dark times ahead for solar power
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The sun is shining on Pennsylvania solar power production, which for the first time tops 100 megawatts, producing enough electricity to power more than 12,600 homes.
But dark clouds are rolling in. Solar power installations have expanded so quickly and so successfully in the commonwealth due to federal and state incentive and funding programs that they have far out-stripped the solar power goals set in the 2004 Pennsylvania's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act.
As a result, Pennsylvania's electric power suppliers no longer have an incentive to buy additional solar produced power, which at 30 cents per kilowatt hour, is roughly four times more expensive than than the cost of electricity from a new coal or natural gas fired power plant. Because it makes up only a small percentage of the total electric power produced, consumers see only a slight increase in their bills.
The market for solar renewable energy credits is "crashing," and that's making it harder to fund and build new solar power projects and putting the state's solar power industry and its 6,700 jobs at risk, said Jan Jarrett, president and chief executive officer for Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, a statewide environmental organization that focuses on energy issues.
"Right now there is more than enough solar in Pennsylvania to meet our Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act goals for 2013, and we are close to reaching the 2014 goals," Ms. Jarrett said.
To protect those jobs, she said, the state needs to adjust the AEPS program's solar power goals upward.
"Without this adjustment to the ramp, the solar market will grind to a halt for up to four years, forcing companies to leave for neighboring states where the regulatory environment for solar is more stable," Ms. Jarrett said.
First Published September 5, 2011 12:00 am
