Here's an article that appeared in today's Philadelphia Inquirer that supports the Fletts column I posted a day or two ago. So many systems are going online that the value of the SRECs are plummeting.
[edit: sorry, I can't seem to get blogger to link the article. I'll try again later]
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20110524_Pennsylvania_s_solar-energy_industry_suffering_from_success.html
"We're in some ways a victim of our own success," said Maureen Mulligan, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Solar Energy Industries Association, which is predicting a crash.
"Anybody who's talking about putting up a new project now is thinking, 'Wow, there's no support anymore,' " said State Rep. Chris Ross (R., Chester County).
On Tuesday, Ross plans to introduce a legislative rescue for the industry that would increase the amount of solar energy that utilities must buy through 2015, propping up the price of solar credits.
We have to remember that forcing the utility companies to by these things is a subsidy. My waffling on whether these subsidies are the right way to proceed is well documented here on the blog so I won't blab about that. The bottom line is, though, that unless the governing authorities ratchet up the number of SRECs that must be purchased, the value of these things will continue to drop.
But doesn't that mean that the subsidies worked? It's hard to feel completely bummed out or elated about this...
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