Pennsylvania’s solar energy boom has gone bust. Reports describe local solar developers as scrambling to find healthier solar markets elsewhere. Several nearby states we will focus in this article on Massachusetts and Connecticut are frequently mentioned as “sunnier” climes for solar. Experience shows that where there is hype in the solar energy market, economic activity usually follows. Unfortunately, if current trends continue, there will likely be not only less clean energy for Pennsylvania, but also fewer solar jobs for Pennsylvanians.
The Pennsylvania solar industry is a victim of its own success. The combination of solar policies and incentives in the commonwealth led to unprecedented, rapid growth for a couple of years through 2011. But the policies did not include mechanisms to modulate that growth so that supply and demand could be balanced over time. What resulted is a market that experienced a striking oversupply.
