Despite the best intentions and efforts of solar advocates and lobbyists, the smart move is to plan for the federal investment tax credit to drop from 30% to 10% at the end of 2016. As one developer put it, given the time it takes to implement a utility-scale solar project, we are already living in a post-ITC world. Yet, even as the sunset is upon us, there is less panic in the streets than one might have suspected.

In fact, the closer the deadline comes, the more encouraged I hear many developers becoming. This is not just whistling past the graveyard. Solar projects are becoming so commonplace that demonstrations of their financial returns based on the price of electricity are becoming more apparent. Grid parity is already a reality in certain markets, and the price of conventional fuels is not going to decrease. Electricity rates are not going down. Solar costs are still coming down. The value of solar is clear.

What is interesting is how the huge mechanism that is power generation, transmission and distribution is moving to accommodate ever greater amounts of solar power on the grid. Despite the perceived hostility of some utilities to solar, many - perhaps a majority - are working to integrate solar into their portfolios. If they still look askance at ratepayer-generated solar, the actions of legislatures and regulators in promoting solar power - which remains popular, at least in concept - should not be overlooked.

Many organizations have moved beyond promoting solar power and are actively working on the technical and infrastructure details of integrating PV into the U.S. generating mix. For example, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) not only produces reports on specific changes to the infrastructure and “regulatory compact” (see “Easing The Transition To A More Distributed Electricity System” ), it also represents these points before utility commissions.

With states like California working to integrate storage onto the grid to enable greater solar penetration, and New York planning to reform its grid in support of distributed generation, the groundwork is being laid for the practical infrastructure on which solar will take its place as a backbone power source. The arguments for solar power have been made. Now the industry has to make it work. R