Report: Indiana added 93 percent fewer solar jobs in 2017

A new report from an industry research firm revealed a steep, but not neccessarily unexpected, drop in job growth in what had been one of Indiana's booming employment sectors: solar industries.

According to the 2017 Solar Jobs Census, published Tuesday by The Solar Foundation, Indiana added 75 solar jobs in 2017. That number is down from more than 1,100 jobs added in 2016.

Experts said that the slowdown follows a national trend. In 2016, the U.S. solar industry experienced record-setting growth as residents and companies raced to have equipment installed before the statutory expiration of the Investment Tax Credit. The ITC provides a significant incentive for renewable energy projects.

The ITC was ultimately extended in late 2015, but by that time, many 2016 projects had already been planned, according to Ed Gilliland, senior director of The Solar Foundation. Many of those plans were followed through with in 2016, during which time the United States doubled its solar generating capacity.

It's no surprise to see that job growth level off a bit in 2017, without a deadline hanging over people's heads, Gilliland said.

"The hangover from 2016 is not going to go into the future," Gilliland said.

Indiana's rollback on net metering policy likely also played a role in the state's slowdown, according to Zoe Ripecky, a project manager with The Solar Foundation.

"This was one big policy move that we noted and may have contributed to this slowing down of growth in terms of solar jobs," she said.

►Background: New law could harm Indiana's solar industry

►More: Utilities spent thousands on lobbying to lawmakers as the pushed solar policy.

Ripecky said that states with strong job growth also had strong renewable portfolio standards as well as policies, such as net metering, that encourage residential solar installations. Indiana's voluntary renewable portfolio standard is nonbinding and instead provides incentives for utilities to increase the energy they produce from renewable sources to 10 percent by 2025. That 10 percent can include technologies such as wind and solar as well as coal bed methane and natural gas.

The Solar Foundation's job report comes just as new solar panel tariffs go into effect. President Donald Trump announced in January a decision to levy a 30 percent tax on solar panels from abroad.

Although the tariffs are meant to protect American manufacturing jobs, industry analyses say that it will cost jobs in solar installation and slow down adoption of the renewable technology to the detriment of the environment and ratepayers. Over half of solar jobs in the U.S. were in installation in 2016.

►Background: Trump solar tariffs could further destabilize Indiana solar industry.

►More: Effects of Trump solar tariff could put net metering back on the table.

"The tariff has created a fair bit of uncertainty over the next couple of years, and we do expect some job loss from the tariff," said Dan Whitten, vice president of communications for the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The tariffs, which will increase the cost of solar installations in the U.S., also undermine a key assumption made by Indiana lawmakers who supported the phase out of the residential solar incentive. Sen. Jim Merritt,R-Indianapolis, chair of the Utilities Committee, told the Star in January that the legislature would revisit the issue if federal policy had a negative effect on the industry in the state.

Despite the obstacles, Whitten said he expects the growth of the solar industry to continue. According to the Solar Jobs Census, 29 states and the District of Columbia saw job growth in 2017, despite seeing a slight decrease nationwide. Since The Solar Foundation began publishing the census in 2010, the solar workforce has grown 168 percent.

Emily Hopkins covers the environment for IndyStar. Contact them at (317) 444-6409 or emily.hopkins@indystar.com. Follow them on Twitter: @_thetextfiles.

IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

More environmental coverage:

►Science links cold weather and global warming

►The Biblical case for protecting the environment

►Study casts doubt on 'greening' of Christianity

►Where will America's climate migrants go?