Arizona is following Nevada’s suit and, as of July 1, 2017, could cut payments to solar customersfor excess energy fed back into the grid. Unlike Nevada, Arizona’s proposal would grandfather existing customers in under the current solar-friendly rates.
But Thursday’s impromptu end to negotiations is a huge speed bump. In April, SolarCity and Arizona Public Service agreed to meet with a mediator to end a public fight over the net-metering cut, according to the Arizona Republic.
Earlier this week, Credit Suisse analyst Patrick Jobin estimated that the Arizona proposal would cut 73% of the solar savings for homeowners. Developers would need to halve their costs to ensure the economics of residential solar power.
Collectively, IBD’s 20-company Energy-Solar industry group ended trading down more than 5% on the stock market today. Shares of SolarCity, Sunrun and Vivint Solar fell 6.3%, 2% and 2.7%, respectively.
Arizona is a 124-megawatt market in 2016, comprising 3%-6% of SolarCity’s 2016 volume, Jobin wrote. Nevada represented 20 MW in quarterly installations for SolarCity, the company has said.
California is the biggest solar market. Last year, California installed 3.27 gigawatts of solar power, and in Q1 it added 1.67 GW, according to Green Tech Media. There, SolarCity and Vivint Solar are losing market share to Sunrun, Jobin said Friday.
During Q1, SolarCity represented 28% of the market, down from 34% in Q4 and Vivint Solar sank to 8% vs. 10%. Sunrun, however, remained flat at 9% of the market.
In April, California applications for solar grew 44% year over year to 133 MW, driven by 196% growth in the commercial segment. Residential applications were weak at 68 MW, up 13.7% vs. the year-earlier quarter.
Of those residential applications, SolarCity fell 17% year over year as Sunrun and Vivint Solar saw 75% and 12% growth, respectively.