Solar financing dealt blow by rate ruling (Phoenix)

Solar system financing is becoming tighter in the wake of lower incentives offered by utilities and the death of a bill that was meant to make it easier for neighborhoods to fund such projects through city bonds.

The Valley’s nascent solar industry was dealt a triple blow this month as Salt River Project announced it was cutting incentive rates, Arizona Public Service Co. received approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission to cut solar incentive rates, and House Bill 2574 died last week.

The bill, which was on its second tour through the Legislature after failing to pass last year, likely will be resurrected next year. But its demise paints a tougher picture for financing in the industry.

“This is just one potentially very robust tool to deal with solar and renewable energy,” said Adam Browning, executive director and founder of the Vote Solar Initiative, a San Francisco-based group that backed the bill.

Read the full story in the Phoenix Business Journal.