Libertarian-oriented John Locke Foundation has this take:
Cary is the latest in a long list of North Carolina cities to harm taxpayers and electric ratepayers by jumping on the solar bandwagon. ... The private firm, Asheville-based FLS Energy, is installing solar panels on city-owned property. Cary gets rent, and FLS Energy gets taxpayer and electricity ratepayer subsidies. ...

The reason that solar is so popular in North Carolina, a state that gets only a middling amount of sunshine ... is that the legislature passed Senate Bill 3 back in 2007. S.B. 3 requires that power companies generate 12.5 percent of their electricity from renewable sources, including solar, by 2021, with electricity ratepayers paying for much of the cost of this expensive power. ...

Finally, we should learn from the solar experience in Germany, a country that has used a similar solar subsidy system for a longer period of time. Ken Green, an environmental scientist at the American Enterprise Institute, reports ... “Germany is finding it hard to continue subsidizing wind and solar power at existing levels. In May, the German parliament cut back the subsidy for domestic rooftop solar photovoltaic systems by 16 percent, with free-standing systems cut by 15 percent.”

Given this evidence from Germany, the legislature should consider repealing S.B. 3 ...

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