34 FEBRUARY 2016 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
BUSINESS OPERATIONS
PHOTOS
COURTESY
OF
RAYVIANCE
F
or fuel oil dealers seeking to diversify, selling and
installing solar-powered systems is an option with
renewed potential, experts said. The industry is
looking forward to robust growth in part because
a five-year extension of a solar investment tax credit was
included in a tax and spending package approved by
Congress and signed by President Obama.
The continuation of the tax credit "will lead to more than
$133 billion in new, private sector investment in the U.S.
economy by 2020," Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the
Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement after
passage in December of the omnibus appropriations bill,
which included the solar investment tax credit. "And much
of this growth will come from small businesses, which make
up more than 85% of America's 8,000 solar companies,"
Resch said.
Some fuel oil dealers have diversified into retailing and
installing solar-powered systems, among them Falmouth
Energy in Falmouth, Mass., whose owner and president,
Christopher LeBoeuf, said of the tax credit, "To be quite frank
I wasn't sure if our solar business would be able to continue
after 2016 if that had gone away. To have that federal tax
credit in place is key to survival of that product at least for
the next several years." LeBoeuf added, "We didn't invest as
much into the business in 2015 because of the uncertainty
of that tax credit going forward, but now that we know it's
going to be in play we can start pushing ahead with growing
our solar business."
Falmouth Energy launched
its solar venture about four
years ago.
for for
SUNNY DAYS
The solar energy industry looks to a bright future
ep en ennet
for
SOLAR POWER
A solar installa-
tion by Falmouth
Energy, Falmouth,
Mass.
