"I think you'd be nuts to build a system in Pennsylvania today," said Frankel, 73. He canceled plans to install a second solar system on his veterinary practice, the Honey Brook Animal Hospital.
Pennsylvania's booming solar industry is going bust.
Attracted by 30 percent federal tax credits and state grants aimed at stimulating pollution-free electricity production, Frankel and thousands of other property owners went solar in the last two years. Taxpayers covered $106,000 of Frankel's 30-kilowatt system, or 57 percent of the cost.
Enthusiasts like Frankel were also counting on receiving solar energy credits for the power they produce to make their projects work. The costs of the credits are paid by electricity consumers rather than taxpayers.
But about 71 megawatts of solar capacity is now in place in Pennsylvania, while a 2004 law requiring utilities to buy a steadily increasing portion of renewable power envisions a demand of only 42 megawatts. The result: SREC prices are falling faster than anticipated.
The solar industry says the market may remain oversupplied for several years unless the legislature steps in. It is lobbying Harrisburg to accelerate the annual increases for solar-power mandates for the next three years.
Legislation introduced by State Rep. Chris Ross (R., Chester) would also ban out-of-state projects from selling their credits to Pennsylvania utilities.
Solar advocates say the changes would not cost consumers very much since solar energy still would make up less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the total power utilities must buy. The bill would also not change the state's target for 2021 that 0.5 percent of electricity must come from the sun.
