More funds likely for solar program
BPU flooded with applications for rebates

Wednesday, July 19, 2006 BY NAWAL QAROONI Star-Ledger Staff

The Board of Public Utilities could today pass a budget releasing more funds to its Clean Energy Program,
which has recently been inundated with applications for solar rebates.

For the past six months the $125 million state program that provides financial incentives to reduce energy
use has been stalled due to an influx of interest in renewable energy.

There are about $111 million worth of projects waiting in line, said Michael Winka, director of the BPU's
office of Clean Energy. The 2006 annual budget for the program, if passed, would allow for the release of
additional rebate promises, he said.

The last round of promises for rebates for some residential housing went out in May, Winka said, though
some homeowners and installation companies said they've been denied rebate promises since January.

Winka said the BPU releases between $1 million to $2 million per week for solar rebates, and has tripled
spending from $30 million last year to almost $90 million this year.

"It's been a lately successful program. What we told people once we went through the budget is, you have
an option," Winka said. "We can close or you can continue to submit applications and wait in line. People
got numbers, like at a deli counter, and have to wait until their number is called. It's to make sure we don't
overspend the budget."

The program is funded by a surcharge in electricity bills and run by a solar-rebate system. But it has been
under scrutiny since an audit from late 2004, obtained by The Star-Ledger earlier this year, revealed alleged
internal accounting problems, apparent cronyism and mismanagement.

But Winka said the backup has nothing to do with the state Treasury Department's tightened oversight on
the program, the attorney general's investigation, or the audit.

"There is no impasse because of the audit," Winka said in a phone interview yesterday. "It has to do with
money and the funding level."

There are more than 100 solar panel installation companies statewide, and many have sprouted since the
Clean Energy Program took off in 2003. Several owners said the demand for solar paneling has been so
high that they've been suffering since the rebates slowed.

"There is a day-to-day impact to the business because of the limited budget in the Clean Energy Program
and the way it has been managed," said Gaurav Naik, co-owner of an energy efficiency company called
Geogenix that is based in Rumson. "The budget wasn't set up to support the consumer interest."

Naik's company alone has 25 homeowners in line, waiting to hear if they'll receive rebate promises. Sun
Farm Network an installation and design company based in Flemington that works with an inter-faith
nonprofit called GreenFaith to install solar paneling for congregations has more.

"It's been a wild success in that so many are interested," said Pamela Frank, director of marketing for Sun
Farm. "New Jersey residents are hungry now for this alternative."

But the alternative -- that reduces greenhouse emissions gases and boasts a cut in electricity bills by, in
some cases, 50 percent -- is one that most interested residents need help funding.

Forrest "Woody" Burgener of Long Valley has contracted with Geogenix to install a $106,000 project of
which he can afford $46,000. Burgener said he's been told he holds number 98 on a list of 300 people
waiting for rebate promises.

When his number comes up, a rebate commitment letter will be issued by the BPU. Geogenix will install the
system. BPU officials will inspect it, then pay for about 50 percent of the cost.

"I've heard that some people have gotten okay's and I've heard that the money is tied up," Burgener said. "I
want to do this. I have a lot of sunlight and think it's good for this country to get solar going."

Others, like Fletcher Harper, director of New Brunswick-based GreenFaith who also sits on the Clean
Energy Council to advise BPU officials on the budget, agrees with Burgener.

"I measure the success by the reaction of the host institutions who have received solar installations," Harper
said, adding that most of the 18 sites that have installed paneling have had multiple dedication ceremonies,
" because they're so eager to show off what they've done. They want to demonstrate their model to their
communities."

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