No funds yet for Pa. solar plan
Lawmakers allotted $100M in July for the program. It's been stalled in Harrisburg.
By Diane Mastrull
Inquirer Staff Writer
Way before "going green" became the crusade it is today, Collegeville contractor Jon Costanza built one of the first solar-powered homes on the East Coast.
That was in Haverford in 1972.
He has waited since then for the industry to catch fire and believed, in July, that the Pennsylvania legislature had at least struck the match.
It had approved Gov. Rendell's $650 million Alternative Energy Funding Act, which allotted $100 million for a new solar initiative. The Pennsylvania Sunshine Program would provide rebates of upward of 35 percent to homeowners and small businesses to offset the cost of buying solar systems, much as New Jersey does.
With Sunshine's birth, "we immediately started hiring," Costanza, president of Sunpower Builders, said last week.
One big problem: Funding for the program still has not materialized. That has delayed the installation of possibly thousands of residential solar systems and the hiring of countless people to do that work, just as Pennsylvania tries to recast itself as a leader in green technology - both as a consumer and innovator.
"If the incentive money doesn't start flowing, we're going to have to start laying off instead of hiring," said Costanza, whose Sunpower Builders now has 12 employees.
While lauding Rendell for the Sunshine Program, Costanza's daughter Kira, who works in the family business, said: "Until we see those dollars going into the rebate program . . . it's just words."
She said that about 40 contracts between Sunpower and potential customers sit in a drawer while the Sunshine funds remain stalled in Harrisburg.
Read the full article here: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/homepage/20090405_No_funds_yet_for_Pa__solar_plan.html
(NOTE: If this article is no longer on the Inquirer's website, please contact kira@sunpowerbuilders.com for an electronic copy, thanks!)
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