The devil is in the detail of community solar plan

Developers want state subsidies but not everybody agrees with that. And activists say low- and moderate-income New Jerseyans should get discounts on their bills.  The state wants to give low- and moderate-income families, mostly left out of the clean energy transformation occurring in New Jersey, the opportunity to cut their electric bills by getting their power from community solar systems.The concept, widely backed by the solar industry, clean energy advocates and public interest groups, is modeled on programs already in place in at least 17 other states, but New Jersey regulatory officials need to iron out key details of a new proposal if it is going to succeed, according to solar executives and others.Those details involve whether the projected cost savings are enough to convince households already having trouble paying their electric bills that reductions in their monthly energy bills would be enough to make it worth joining a community solar program.“If you are already struggling to pay your bills, you are not going to pay more just to save the world,’’ said Nancy Griffith, of the Unitarian Universalist for Faith Action said at a hearing on a new rule proposal to develop community solar programs in New Brunswick.Those communities also ought to benefit from jobs created by those investments, others said. “We want our communities to benefit not only price-wise, but job wise,’’ said Rev. Ronald Tuff, representing GreenFaith.