Incentive changes slow solar job growth (Phoenix)

Solar jobs boomed last year, but now are largely in flux thanks to changing incentives from utilities and a new plan to make solar more accessible to schools and nonprofits.

Solar installers say they have slashed as many as 2,000 jobs in the wake of Arizona Public Service Co. and Salt River Project cutting their incentives two months ago. Those losses, however, may be balanced somewhat by the Arizona Corporation Commission’s ruling last week that solar companies can sell power to schools, nonprofits and governments without regulation.

“Absolutely, I think it’s a positive step — but we should view it as one of many steps to have a successful solar installation community,” said Lee Feliciano, executive vice president of Carbon Free Technologies in Scottsdale and president of the Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association.

The industry also will be getting a boost from Abengoa Solar Inc., which last week announced it will be bringing more than 1,600 construction jobs online in the next two years to build its Solana Generating Station near Gila Bend.

Some say the school decision will help on the jobs front. Green Choice Solar LLC in Scottsdale is installing four systems totaling about 1.5 megawatts with the Paradise Valley Unified School District and may be looking at more after the ACC ruling, said Tony Doran, the company’s president of sales and marketing and one of its co-founders.

Green Choice will own the systems and sell power to the district at a fixed rate over 25 years. The company may add people, but any new hires will be based on its long-term growth pattern rather than short-term market changes.

The decision not to regulate those systems will boost many commercial installers, Doran said.

“We think the market will grow a little bit more, but we’re restricted by the incentive amounts,” he said.

Read the full story in the Phoenix Business Journal.