By Tom Kelly

The Legislature is just days away from adjournment. While many things are on the chopping block, a key investment in Oregon's clean energy future is also at risk: a modest incentive for residential roof top solar installations.

Our state policymakers talk about Oregon being a leader on climate change, especially in the aftermath of President's Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. The discontinuation of this tax credit would fly in the face of those statements and throw some doubt on their commitment.

When other states withdrew support for the solar industry, they saw an immediate decrease in installations and a contraction of the solar industry. They lost valuable green jobs that cannot be outsourced. Oregon cannot afford to follow those footsteps and should instead learn from those mistakes.

Citizens who install rooftop solar are providing a huge benefit to their community. Distributed energy resources create a stronger, cleaner, and more resilient grid to the benefit of all consumers. Costs are continuing to come down, and in the future, we will not need financial incentives that entice consumers to go all in on solar. But incentives are critical at this time and place for the solar industry with payback periods still a little to long without them. Incentives, in the form of tax credits, are an important statewide tool to keep the solar industry going in Oregon right now.

Some legislators have worked hard to keep a residential solar incentive in place by scaling it back to fit within Oregon's budgetary realities. They have developed a balanced package that has widespread support. But the package is not yet in the final tax credit agreement.

If the legislature adjourns and lets the roof top solar tax credit die, we will miss a critical opportunity, an opportunity for a cleaner, more affordable energy future and a growing sector that provides the good green jobs that Oregonians want and need. If our state leaders don't keep the solar installation tax credit going, it could be counted as one of the greatest failures this session.

Tom Kelly is president of Neil Kelly.