Stagnant State Solar Industry Hopes for a Boost from BIll

Not long ago, Connecticut's solar energy industry was thriving, the envy of other states. Then the state's generous incentive program ran out of money, the legislature failed to create a sustainable alternative, and the industry found itself on the ropes.

"It's not in danger of losing momentum, it's lost it," said Ron French president of Alteris Renewables, the largest Connecticut-based solar company. Alteris's Connecticut employee base is down by 50 percent in the last year, and like most companies here, has refocused business in states with healthier programs, principally Massachusetts and New Jersey. "We've grown as a company, but our growth has been in other states."

Alteris and others are pinning their Connecticut solar revival hopes on provisions in this year's omnibus energy bill - SB 1. But it's a work in progress, with the original solar components proving to be some of the more contentious in the enormous, multi-provisioned bill.

A six-hour meeting last weekend among energy committee chairs, ranking members and the administration - one of a series of sessions held out of the spotlight -- did not achieve final wording, but has pulled the solar language into sharper focus. The changes are at once pleasing and worrisome to solar advocates.

"As far as I'm concerned there will be a solar commitment in the bill," said Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, co-chair of the energy committee. "What we're saying is we want to find the sweet spot."

Finding that sweet spot will mean changing the way state has run its solar incentive program since it started in 2005 with a pot of money from electric ratepayer fees, administered by the quasi-public Clean Energy Fund.

Residential and commercial solar systems received rebates, considered the most generous in the nation when they started. The rebates were so popular and effective that the money ran out rapidly even as they spawned dozens of solar companies and hundreds of jobs.

At its peak, Connecticut was ranked among the top three states in the nation for the amount of solar it installed, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group. With the demise of legislation in 2009 and its veto in 2010, the state fell to 18th last year.

The pending legislation uses renewable energy credits to reconfigure the commercial solar program to be largely self-sustaining and market-based. Solar system owners could finance at least part of their project costs by selling the credits, called recs, to electric utilities that need to meet renewable energy requirements.

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