As many people know, California has the highest solar power adoption rates in the country mostly due to large financial support from the state through the California Solar Initiative. In fact, California ranked first in the U.S. in installed solar capacity with 212 MW in 2009 claiming 49% of the national market.
That, of course, is the good news. The bad news is that the state financial support for non-residential solar projects is beginning to dry up, leaving many projects in limbo. According to the San Diego Union Tribune:
A $149 million state fund that was the biggest driver in local efforts to boost solar power production is almost out of money with just over half of the capacity it was intended to spur in place or in the works.
As a result, some large nonresidential solar installations that depended on the subsidies won’t get built. The fund subsidizes solar projects by businesses, nonprofits and government agencies.
Although the rebates financial incentives available under this program represent a fraction of the cost of solar installations for these nonresidential projects, losing such funds can have a dramatic impact on the overall profitability of these large projects to the point where they can not move forward. According to Katrina Perez, who manages the program for the California Center for Sustainable Energy, “[w]e’re not able to say at this point that the market is sustainable.”
Read More at RenewableEnergyWorld.com