Friday, November 06, 2009 at 2:05:46 PM - by Danny Vo

The Commonwealth Solar incentive program was supposed to last four years when it was announced in 2007 - but roaring demand for subsidized solar panels in the Bay State has depleted it completely.

The program, administrated by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, had budgeted $68 million to incentivize installations on homes, businesses, and government buildings. Last month, though, the MTC alerted installers to its low level of remaining funds.

Massachusetts is drafting a post-Commonwealth Solar rebate strategy involving solar renewable energy credits (SRECs), and the state Department of Energy Resources expects to have a plan ready by January 2010. But other states' SREC programs took at least a year to get off the ground. Jeff Wolfe, CEO of Vermont-based groSolar, noted the momentum built by the Commonwealth Solar program but cautioned that "the state can effectively decide to waste [it] if they don’t create stable incentive programs."

Commonwealth Solar combined $40 million from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust with $28 million from funds that DOER collected under the Renewable Portfolio Standard program. It was designed to incentivize the construction of 27 megawatts of solar panel capacity, a goal that was reached in early October.