Colorado solar industry to march on state Capitol today

(Feb. 25) – members of Colorado’s solar are planning to march on the state Capitol building, in Denver, today to protest Xcel Energy and the ratcheting-down of its Solar Rewards program.

On Feb. 17, Xcel announced that it would reduce the rebate from $2.35 per watt to $2.01 per watt. The incentive has the ratcheting-down effect built in to lower as the cost of solar lowers, in order to wean solar companies and customers off the rebate.

But the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA), one of the groups leading the march, says Xcel jumped the gun.

“The solar industry supports the predictable ratcheting down of incentives—not precipitous drops that destabilize the marketplace. Incentives were reduced nearly 50 percent during the past two years as solar electric costs decreased by 40-50 percent during the same period,” stated today’s COSEIA press release. “The program has been working. The key was that program changes were predictable, incremental and transparent so consumers and businesses could react.”

The Feb. 17 announcement came as a surprise to the industry and right on the heels of COSEIA’s annual Solar Power Colorado conference, at which the future of incentives was a hot-button issue.

According to COSEIA, because Xcel is a monopoly utility in the region, it has a financial stake in the solar industry and should not be allowed to “pull the rug out from under Colorado’s small businesses and put thousands of jobs at risk.”

The march is scheduled for 12 p.m. on the West steps of the Capitol building. Check back for updates from the demonstration.