Solar power”™s growth is being stymied by bureaucracy in New York state, short-circuiting a potential economic spark plug, as well as threatening jobs and even business survival.
That is the conclusion of solar power advocates and installers who say the agency that approves state rebates for residential and commercial photovoltaic solar arrays is taking up to six month to approve contracts. Those delays are causing customers to cancel orders and in turn leaving solar installation companies struggling with cash flow.
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is in charge of the funding. Â Officials concede there are long delays with program approvals.
Jeffrey Gordon, NYSERDA”™s communications director, said it normally takes 60 to 90 days to process the two-page application, adding the agency has been overwhelmed by the rapid growth in funding and interest connected with solar power. Â
The delays are affecting business.
One company with 22 years in the field said it has hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of signed contracts stuck in the state agency, including one application that has not been acted on since December.
“At this point, there is a very good chance I”™ll have to close up because of this,” said Gay Canough, owner of ETM Solar Works of Endicott, N.Y., which does installations throughout the state, including Westchester County.
Gordon confirmed that there is an application from ETM submitted in December, but e could not explain why it is taking so long to process.
NYSERDA is charged with assisting the growth of solar power and stoking the solar power industry in New York state, among other avenues, through the PON 1050 Incentive program, which returns a significant percentage of the total cost of a photovoltaic array back to customers.
The exact rebate is $2.50 per watt, which can reduce system cost by thousands of dollars. As of April, NYSERDA had budgeted $24 million annually for the program for the next five years, an amount installers say will not meet demand.
The PON 1050 program requires a relatively simple two-page document be filled out by the installers of the array, along with a site plan and site photos for review and approval by NYSERDA. Installations cannot be performed until they receive NYSERDA approval or the rebate will not be paid.
Ronald Kamen, president of the New York Solar Energy Industries Association (NYSEIA) said there is a potentially crippling backlog of approvals affecting installers throughout New York. “It has been a problem for a while now,” Kamen said. “There are absolutely a lot of things NYSERDA can be doing and should be doing.”
But he also said the fault is not entirely with NYSERDA personnel but with the top heavy structure of state government, where officials with the Public Service Commission must approve changes to the PON 1050 program. He said, for example, a bid by NYSERDA to move the program from its research and development arm into the technology deployment arm that can process forms more efficiently was delayed by PSC inaction.
Gordon said that the PSC order allowing NYSERDA to set up a better processing system takes effect at the end of June. The new process is needed, he said, because of the growth in the solar power installation industry. From 2007 to 2009 the number of companies doing installations statewide swelled from about 50 to more than 200. And the number of applications went from 475 to almost 1,200. The funding also grew exponentially, with some $13 million earmarked for the PON 1050 program from 2006-09, while  $24 million a year is slated for rebates for the next five years.
That money is not adequate to fund growth in the industry, said Kamen, who is also senior vice president of EarthKind Solar at Tech City in Kingston. He said increased funding is something the state Legislature had to address and advocated for a state renewable energy credit such as already enacted by New Jersey and Pennsylvania among other states.
But beyond the need for more funding, Kamen stressed the need for NYSERDA to speed their processes and offered the agency some suggestions.
For example he said, “If you are an installer with a track record of several jobs done correctly, you should clearly be in a different category than a new installer,” he said. “As a number of quality jobs you should be fast tracked into the system.”
Gordon said NYSERDA officials are open to the idea. “We are absolutely considering such options.”
