By almost any measure, New Jersey’s solar sector is thriving, but that isn’t preventing many folks from thinking it just may need some big fixes.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is the latest to weigh in by announcing a broad examination of the industry and exploring whether the current structure that has served it so well may have outlived its usefulness – or at the very least needs some significant changes.
In a decision reached Friday at their regular monthly meeting, the BPU commissioners voted to launch a proceeding to study the current system, including whether the existing financial incentives that have made the state one of the nation’s leaders in solar need to be pared back, or replaced with something else.
The action, as well as the timing, left some solar advocates privately scratching their heads given that the undertaking and scope of the effort are sure to spill over well into the next year, when a new governor and Legislature take over. It also occurs at a time when parts of the solar sector already have offered up their own template for overhauling the current structure with a bill in the Legislature (S-2276).