solar

Op-Ed: NJ’s solar industry collapse puts thousands of jobs at risk

Here’s what Gov. Murphy and lawmakers must do to restore a once-thriving industry

By Rodger Ferguson in NJ Spotlight News

New Jersey’s solar industry is collapsing. Installations are down, the solar pipeline is shrinking and thousands of jobs are at risk. This distressing reality is set out in black and white in a recently released report prepared by Sustainable Energy Advantage, LLC (SEA).

Gov. Phil Murphy’s 2019 Energy Master Plan set the stage for New Jersey to achieve 100% clean, renewable energy by 2050. The master plan concluded that New Jersey could meet this goal by reaching 20.64 GW dc of solar installations by 2035. To get there, the state needs to incentivize the installation of approximately 1,140 MW dc, annually, from 2020 to 2035.

Unfortunately, New Jersey installations have declined by an average of 10%-15% per year for the past four years. The projection for 2022 is 280 MW dc — the lowest total since 2015 and only about 25% of the Energy Master Plan’s target. Unless something changes, drastically and immediately, it will be all but impossible for the state to meet its solar installation targets.

The solar industry is a multibillion-dollar industry in New Jersey, with over 6,000 people employed. In years past, the state ranked first in the country in solar installations. Based on current projections, it will fall to 21st within five years. According to the SEA report, whereas New Jersey once ranked first in the country in solar jobs, it has now slipped to 12th. In addition to Gov. Murphy’s ambitious and important clean-energy goals, thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of investment in the state are at risk.

Although many factors contribute to the rate of solar installations, including equipment costs and interconnection delays, the SEA report notes that, at the same time New Jersey’s solar market is contracting, installation rates across the country are rising. In fact, in the same period (2019-21) that New Jersey’s solar market contracted by 23%, the U.S. solar market expanded by 78%. The report concludes that “NJ-specific characteristics and policy choices are the primary drivers of recent trends.”

Read the full story here

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What Manchin got for his agreement to the climate bill

Along the way to the $369 billion package, the West Virginia senator secured an array of concessions for his state and for the fossil fuel industry.


By Brad Plumer and Lisa Friedman, New York Times

WASHINGTON — In a twist of fate, Congress is suddenly poised to pass the most ambitious climate bill in United States history, largely written by a senator from a coal state who became a millionaire from his family coal business and who has taken more campaign cash from the oil and gas industry than any of his colleagues have.

That senator, Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, managed to win several major concessions for the fossil fuel industry in the $369 billion climate and energy package, which was made public on Wednesday by Senate Democrats. Mr. Manchin’s vote is critical in the evenly divided chamber because no Republicans support the bill.

What’s inside the Democrat’s new climate bill

The measure requires the federal government to auction off more public lands and waters for oil drilling. It expands tax credits for carbon capture technology that could allow coal or gas-burning power plants to keep operating with lower emissions. Mr. Manchin also secured a promise from Democratic leaders to vote on a separate measure to speed up the process of issuing permits for energy infrastructure, potentially smoothing the way for projects like a natural gas pipeline in West Virginia.

Yet most environmental groups and Democrats were jubilant about the final bill, which would also pump hundreds of billions of dollars into low-carbon energy technologies — like wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles — and would put the United States on track to slash its greenhouse gas emissions to roughly 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

“We just made a deal with Joe Manchin,” said Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, who had pushed for more expansive climate provisions. “I don’t think anybody should have expected that this is the bill I would have written.” But even with the fossil fuel provisions, he said, the measure is “the most significant move in the right direction that the United States has ever taken.”

With Manchin deal, talk of Biden’s emergency declaration may be dead

The legislation, if it passes, is expected to bring big benefits to West Virginia. It would make permanent a federal trust fund to support coal miners with black lung disease. It would offer new incentives for companies to build wind and solar farms in areas where coal mines or coal plants have recently closed. And it would provide generous tax credits for nascent technologies like carbon capture and storage and low-emissions hydrogen fuels, which Mr. Manchin has supported.

“Those are his pet projects,” James Van Nostrand, a law professor at West Virginia University, said. “I think he’s going to say, ‘I used my strategic position to bring back benefits for West Virginia.’ And he’ll probably do pretty well in the next election.”

Read the full story here

If you liked this post you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

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The U.S. will lift tariffs on solar products imported from Canada

As part of the agreement signed on July 8, the U.S. and Canada also committed to prohibiting imports of solar products produced with forced labor.

By John Engel, Renewable Energy World

The Trump administration implemented the solar safeguard measure in 2018 to support domestic solar manufacturing. While largely aimed at China, the safeguard extended to all solar imports.

In February, a panel found that Canada’s inclusion in the solar safeguard was inconsistent with rules within the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

That same month, President Biden extended the solar safeguard measure for an additional four years, but excluded bifacial cells and doubled the import quota on solar cells to 5 GW. Biden also directed the United States trade representative to conclude agreements with Canada and Mexico on trade in solar products.

“Reaching this settlement with Canada will promote the greater deployment of solar energy in the United States using products from one of our closest allies, and foster a more resilient North American supply chain for clean energy products made without forced labor,” United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement.

Read the full story here

If you liked this post you’ll love our daily environmental newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

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New bill in Florida legislature would end solar net metering

By Kelsey Misbrener Solar Power World

Legislation filed November 22, 2021 in the Florida Legislature aims to end net metering for rooftop solar customers, effectively shutting down this key sector of the state economy and undermining energy freedom for tens of thousands of Floridians.

Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley introduced SB 1024, which aims to “revise and provide legislative findings relating to the redesign of net metering to avoid cross-subsidization of electric service costs between classes of ratepayers” and require the Public Service Commission to propose new net metering rules that comply with specified criteria by a certain date; while authorizing certain customers who own or lease renewable generation before a specified date to remain under the existing net metering rules for a specified time.

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National and state solar advocates are calling on lawmakers to reject this legislation and allow the state’s rooftop solar market to continue growing.

“This is a tired tactic that utilities have used to maintain their monopoly grip on electricity markets. Net metering is a popular program that gives people the right to choose the energy that works for them, provides benefits to all ratepayers and creates thousands of energy jobs across Florida. The bill is another of a long line of cynical efforts carried out in the state of Florida at the behest of monopoly utilities to the detriment of Florida residents,” said Will Giese, southeast regional director for SEIA, in a statement.

Read the full story here

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Judge rejects Trump tariffs on imported solar panels

By Jonathan Stempel Metro US

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. judge overseeing trade issues on Tuesday overturned a decision by then-President Donald Trump to allow a reimposition of tariffs on some imported solar panels.

The decision by Judge Gary Katzmann of the U.S. Court of International Trade is a defeat for some domestic manufacturers.

It came one year after he ruled that Trump’s October 2020 proclamation to revoke a tariff exemption for double-sided, or bifacial, solar panels had not violated an earlier court order.

Trump’s proclamation was a “clear misconstruction” of a law that permits measures to liberalize rather than restrict trade, and “constituted an action outside the President’s delegated authority,” Katzmann wrote on Tuesday.

Shares of First Solar Inc, a large U.S. solar panel manufacturer, fell after the decision and were down 7.1% in late afternoon trading.

The Biden administration had defended Trump, saying he acted lawfully to close a “loophole” that he believed was undermining tariff protections against an “explosive” increase in imports.

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The U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bifacial technology is a small but growing part of the solar panel market, costing more but capable of producing greater power than traditional panels.

Trump had said extending the exemption would likely reduce the effectiveness of tariffs meant to help shield the domestic solar industry against growing imports.

But a trade group, the Solar Energy Industries Association, contended that higher tariffs could wipe out a few billion dollars of domestic investment a year.

Read the full story here

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Nearly 1 MW of solar installed for Teaneck, NJ school district

By Kelsey Misbrener Solar Power World

Infiniti Energy announced it has completed construction on 905 kW of new solar projects for the Teaneck New Jersey Board of Education. Infiniti Energy was hired by Concord Management Services, the EPC for the project. The project was completed under a PPA, which enables the district to achieve the financial benefits of renewable energy immediately while eliminating up-front expenditures and outsourcing operation and maintenance costs over a specified period. Financing for these projects was provided by Empower Energies.

“We were excited to help support the Teaneck school system with the installation of renewable energy sources that will provide stable energy costs for years to come,” said Michael Aladich, Jr., Infiniti senior project manager. “Public-private partnerships are an ideal option for educational facilities and municipal governments looking to reduce their energy costs and their carbon footprint, and we are proud to be an industry leader in the transition away from fossil fuel sources.

The design includes rooftop solar arrays at six K-12 buildings. Locations and individual system sizes include:

  • Teaneck High School, a 119-kWDC array.
  • Theodora Smiley Lacey School, a 110-kWDC array.
  • Thomas Jefferson Middle School, a 265-kWDC array.
  • Whittier Elementary School, a 125-kWDC array.
  • New Administration Building, a 103-kWDC array.
  • Lowell Elementary School, a 114-kWDC array.

“The Board of Education takes the stewardship of taxpayer money and our natural resources very seriously,” said Anthony D’Angelo, Teaneck School District Director of Facilities. “This project is a win-win for both residents and students. Not only will the new solar arrays save our school district money, but they will also provide direct educational opportunities for our students concerning the benefits to the environment of the growing clean energy industry.”

If you liked this post you’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics. It’s packed with the latest news, commentary, and legislative updates from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware…and beyond. Don’t take our word for it, try it free for an entire month. No obligation.

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