By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
As SolarWakeup Live! heads to Jersey City, New Jersey, in about three weeks, I was startled to run across a story at the website NJSpotlight with the following headline:
COLLAPSE OF NJ SOLAR INDUSTRY, BIG LAYOFFS IF NO INTERIM STATE PLAN — WARNING
Because I understand clickbait when I see it, I did not immediately pull out my phone and call SolarWakeup Managing Editor Yann Brandt and tell him to abort his trip out East. Instead, I clicked on the link to figure out exactly what writer Tom Johnson was talking about.
It turns out that it’s not nearly as scary as he made it sound – at least if New Jersey legislators get their acts together and do something about the transition period between the old solar compensation structure and the new one signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy earlier this year.
Based on the people told the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities at a public meeting yesterday, of course, the headline might be accurate. But the truth is the legislature has six months to figure this out, so the use of the word “imminent” might be a little much.
Still, according to NJ Spotlight writer Tom Johnson, the solar industry painted a pretty grim picture. To wit:
Unless there is a seamless transition, the industry could shut down, solar executives told state regulatory officials at a stakeholder meeting in Newark yesterday. If that happens, it could cause massive layoffs in a sector that now employs more than 7,000 and has invested in excess of $10 billion in New Jersey.
The collapse also could leave many solar projects — including those undertaken by school systems, municipalities, hospitals and others — as money-losing ventures. Loans and bonds used to finance them would be difficult to repay as revenues from the solar systems would fall short.
If I were on the Board of Public Utilities, that kind of testimony would leave me terrified. But don’t worry – we’ll sort it all out at SolarWakeup Live! on November 6 in Jersey City. You have Yann Brandt’s word on it.
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COLLAPSE OF NJ SOLAR INDUSTRY, BIG LAYOFFS IF NO INTERIM STATE PLAN — WARNING