Solar arrays are rapidly covering Colorado rooftops, but a battle over their future is looming at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.

Xcel Energy, which runs the state’s largest rooftop solar program, has suggested deep cuts in the incentives it offers for solar in a filing to the utilities commission.

The commission is slated to have its first meeting on Xcel’s proposed renewable-energy plan Wednesday.

‘This is a an existential struggle,’ said Blake Jones, president of Boulder-based installer Namaste Solar.

‘The utility industry sees rooftop solar as a threat to its business model,’ Jones said. ‘For the solar industry in Colorado, it is a question of survival.’

Xcel sees it differently.

The
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problem, said David Eves, chief executive officer of Xcel’s Colorado subsidiary, is that the benefits of rooftop solar do not cover the program’s costs.

‘This is not about putting the brakes on solar,’ Eves said. ‘It’s about having an honest discussion about costs and benefits.’

If changes aren’t made, however, Xcel said it wants to cut back its Solar Reward program to 6 megawatts of new solar arrays from a […]