America’s Solar Energy Disaster
Solar energy was supposed to be one of the legs on the stool of America’s green energy push. Its promise was even greater than wind energy, and well ahead of the development of nuclear power. Recently, as the federal government has made solar more expensive for many Americans, the promise of solar has started to fade.
“Plans to kill the tax credit by the end of the year would be tantamount to a death sentence for much of the residential solar industry and bring major layoffs, Ben Airth, policy director at Freedom Forever,” told Semafor. Five million systems were installed on homes as of May 2024. Walmart, Apple, and Target are customers, although federal credits may not alter their decisions.
The rise in interest rates has also undermined residential solar sales, just as it has home sales in general. Interest rates at or near 10% make the advantage of solar over electricity hard to justify.
Residential Sales
Solar Insure reports that over 100 solar companies have closed or gone into bankruptcy. “While stronger players demonstrate some resilience, impacted homeowners and solar employees face prolonged uncertainty. The outright collapse of many once fast-growing solar firms provides a sobering case study on the potential unintended consequences of incentive transitions.”
These trends will likely lead people to revert to the use of gas and oil for home heating and electricity for most other residential power sources. Each is, in its own way, likely to be dirty. It is another setback to the greening of America
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