Louisiana solar tax credits run dry as more states take solar policy action
August 3, 2016 | By
April Nowicki
U.S. states are fine-tuning their solar policy and rate design, a report from the North Carolina State University's N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center (NCCETC) released Monday showed. Louisiana's updates, however, reflect more solar demand than the state can support. Louisiana has run out of money to fund the state's solar tax credit program, leaving some residents with thousands of dollars in bills to pay for solar panels, according to the Times-Picayune. The Bayou State was one of the 42 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia, that took some form of action related to distributed solar policy and rate design during the second quarter of this year, as shown in N.C. Clean Energy's report. As of last month, the state's Department of Revenue said homeowners had applied for $39 million worth of solar-system credits, $14 million more than the program covers though 2017, when it is set to end, according to the Louisiana Weekly. The state's Department of Revenue released a statement on July 19 noting that consumers purchasing residential solar energy systems should not expect to receive tax credits from the state moving forward, but that those who do not receive refunds due to the policy change might be eligible for deferred claims. Last year, Louisiana lawmakers moved to end the state's solar tax credit altogether, and ultimately capped spending on credits for purchased systems at $25 million through 2018, according to the Times-Picayne. The state had already spent more than $147 million on the solar tax credit program. GTM Research noted that the solar loan market grew significantly last year. "The solar loan market has exploded," said Senior Solar Analyst Nicole Litvak. "Every [third party ownership] TPO financier has introduced or is planning to introduce a loan, and an entirely separate group of pure-play loan providers has emerged. Many of these new loans are structured such that they offer customers the same year-one savings as a lease or [power purchase agreement]." But loan programs that help customers install solar panels is an introductory step, and this year, the N.C. Clean Energy report indicated that most actions taken on solar policy were initiated by utility companies and related to increasing charges. "We are seeing no sign of decline in requests to increase residential fixed charges, while residential demand charge proposals have not yet picked up as many in the industry were expecting," Autumn Proudlove, report co-author and senior policy analyst at NCCETC, said in a statement. "However, in over half of the fixed charge decisions made this year, utilities were not granted any increase." The report showed that:
The report also listed the top five solar policy developments from last quarter. "We found a tremendous amount of activity across the U.S. in the last quarter," observed Brian Lips, report co-author and energy policy project coordinator at the NCCETC. "Legislatures, commissions or utilities in almost every state proposed or adopted policy changes that will shape their distributed solar markets for years to come," continued Lips. "From direct changes to net-metering rules, to rate design revisions, there are many opportunities for state markets to be weakened or strengthened. States that were once dominant in distributed solar adoption may not be dominant in the future, just as states that have lagged behind may quickly jump to the front of the pack." For more: |