Soveren Solar Closes - nail in coffin was Trump's new tariff's

https://vtdigger.org/2018/01/30/community-solar-firm-soveren-solar-closes-up-shop/

Peter Thurrell said President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on solar equipment are nails in the coffin — the last contributing factor leading to the closure of his company, Soveren Solar, after eight years in operation.

“It is the latest of a series of blows to solar in Vermont, and we already decided it was too much,” he told the Reformer. “Not only the new [net-metering] rules but all of the hidden policy changes embedded in all of those.”

Trump-approved taxes on imported solar equipment, announced last week, start with levies of 30 percent for the first three years, then fall to 15 percent in the fourth year.

Thurrell believes his Dummerston-based company invented the concept of community solar in Vermont. Residents, businesses and municipalities participating in these projects buy panels or net-metering credits to offset their power bills.