Nevada Legislature revives subsidies for rooftop solar industry

As highlighted in the Sunday Review-Journal, there is another attempt to bring back what was once rightfully a dead issue. Some state lawmakers and likely a bevy of well-funded lobbyists are trying to ingratiate solar business owners and well-off homeowners by reinstating patently egregious financial givebacks to the purveyors of rooftop solar. This is infuriating.

By now, everyone knows that the federal government kicks back 30 percent of the total installation cost to homeowners and now our lawmakers think it’s a good idea to further subsidize these rooftop installations by providing a bountiful “net metering” rebate for excess generation set at near retail. How does one ever get the actual cost of these installations down when nearly 50 percent of the costs are subsidized by our government and other ratepayers?

Rooftop solar needs to stand on its own financially. Until then, every ratepayer would benefit by the installation of far more financially efficient, large-scale utility solar systems. If this rooftop solar proposal passes, it will certainly bring back Elon Musk’s Solar City and yet another platform for selling discounted, already Nevada tax subsidized, lithium batter packs for these rooftop solar installations.

It’s time that members of the Legislature get some backbone, dump the rooftop fiasco, and allow everyone to benefit from large-scale solar either locally installed or purchased wholesale for far less per kilowatt hour.