Hartford Business Journal

30 COnnECTiCUT GREEn GUiDE • SprinG 2015 www.CTGreenGuide.com Cut Solar's Cost State, industry must address soft costs By Michael Trahan I recently met with representatives from a large West Coast solar electric installer business who are considering coming to Connecticut. Their reason for making an investment here? "Connecticut's not a fledgling solar market any- more," they told me. They're right. Home solar installs in Connecticut doubled two years ago, doubled last year, and are expected to double again this year even though state officials cut incentives for residential solar seven times in that span. Incentives for commercial solar are dropping, too. Installer companies are hiring again. We're headed in the right direction. Connecticut electric ratepayer incentives have had a lot to do with the success of solar. Electric customers have put up millions to drive down solar costs. That's a serious investment. It pays off if demand for solar continues after state and federal incentives are phased out. What can be done to safeguard the ratepayer investment? You start by cutting the cost to install solar. Ten years ago, the cost for solar panels represented the largest percentage of the job. Thanks to ratepayer support, panel costs have dropped more than 50 per- cent. While panel prices have gone down, soft costs like permitting, inspections, connecting to the grid, and insurance have remained unchanged. Soft costs, not panels, now account for most of the price consumers pay to install a home solar system. U.S. consumers' solar soft costs are four times higher than German consumers. The Germans are world lead- ers in the use of solar because they've cut installation costs. We can do the same. Here's what the Connecticut solar industry is advo- cating for: • Again this year we've asked state lawmakers to cut the cost homeowners pay to have a solar system permitted. More than 30,000 Connecticut residential property owners are expected to install solar by 2020. Our proposal to streamline local permitting saves those homeowners $15 — $20 million. • Last summer we made suggestions to the electric power companies on how to save homeowners money on the fee the companies charge to connect home solar systems to the electric grid. We're waiting for the elec- tric companies to respond. • The Connecticut Green Bank will soon receive in- stallers' suggestions on how to create savings by reduc- ing administrative paperwork, inspections, and other processes solar installers must follow to offer state incentives to their customers. • State officials are interested in working with us to determine if there are ways to reduce Connecticut's outrageously high workers' compensation costs paid by solar installers and passed on to consumers. These costing cutting measures, and others, can save residential solar users an estimated $4,000 or more. Com- mercial property owners would save much more. michael Trahan is the executive director of industry advocate Solar Connecticut. Advocate Corner

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