Collapse of NJ Solar Industry, Big Layoffs If No Interim State Plan — Warning
Executives suggest urgent need for temporary system to incentivize solar development before transition to Murphy administration’s new approach
With less than six months to act, the state needs to quickly transition to a new way of promoting solar energy or risk a collapse in one of its fastest growing sectors, industry officials warned yesterday.
In what is shaping up as one of the most difficult tasks the state faces in achieving the clean-energy goals of the Murphy administration, policymakers must agree on an interim system for incentivizing solar development, probably as soon as next March.
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.
[For the rest of this story, visit NJ Spotlight Collapse of NJ Solar Industry, Big Layoffs If No Interim State Plan — Warning
