Hawaii’s solar industry has lost 400 jobs since 2013 and currently employs 2,200 people, according to a new report released by The Solar Foundation, a nonprofit solar research organization.
The 15 percent decline was quickly panned by the local solar industry, which blames Hawaiian Electric Co. for the job losses.
For economic and technological reasons, HECO has slowed the amount of rooftop solar it’s allowed on its electric grids.
“It’s outrageous that Hawaii — with all of its abundant sunshine — is losing the economic and environmental benefits of a vibrant solar industry. The blame for this loss rests on Hawaiian Electric.” Robert Harris, a spokesman for the Alliance for Solar Choice, said in a Thursday press release. “For almost two years now, Hawaiian Electric held up the solar industry on a false premise. The solar industry consistently maintained, and now Hawaiian Electric finally admits, that vastly higher amounts of rooftop solar can be installed on the grid.”
HECO still leads the nation, however, in the percentage of customers who have installed rooftop solar on their homes — about 12 percent — and the utility has recently loosened restrictions on solar installations on Oahu.
Hawaii’s solar market has been particularly robust because of the state’s high electricity rates, which are the most expensive in the country and in recent years have averaged three times the national average.
More data from the report:
