Are We Giving Renewable Energy the Run-Around?

I just spoke with the proprietor of a very well-established and well-diversified energy solutions company in New York, focusing on a range of residential, commercial, and industrial customers. He happened to have seen my piece on Joe Biden’s speech, and told me: “If you want real malarkey, you have to come to New York. We take the cake.”

When I asked what he meant, he explained.

The paperwork to even begin a solar project is so onerous that virtually no one can put up with it. It’s a pile of documents to be signed by the customer and the contractor, submitted to NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority). Then you wait, and wait.

In three months you get a response that tells you that a certain document is missing. Well, it wasn’t required when we submitted “The Package” three months ago, but it sure as hell is now. So we submit it. And then we wait some more.

I can put a 37-ton air-conditioner on your roof this afternoon. But if I want to put a 37-pound solar panel on your roof, watch out. It’s the paperwork I just described, plus a bonus! I need an insurance policy with special wording that could cost thousands of dollars.

The same people who will make a speech claiming all the great work they’ve done to take us to clean energy are the exact same people making it impossible. Solar contractors are dropping like flies, simply because the restrictions are just too tough.  They’d rather be laying bricks, and I can’t see how anyone could possibly blame them.

That’s sad, folks.