Giving a new meaning to the term “sun roof”, Atlantic City’s Convention Center will install solar photovoltaic (PV) modules on 290,000 square feet of roof space, saving a projected $4.4 million over 20 years, according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger. In a groundbreaking economic arrangement, Pepco Energy Services, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, will pay to have the solar panels installed, and the Convention Center will then buy back the electricity from Pepco. The installation will provide a quarter of the energy consumed by the convention center. The Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) says the installation will be the largest in the U.S. on one roof.

“Jeffrey Vasser, executive director of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, said the group began planning a solar project a few years ago when Gov. Jon S. Corzine pushed for greater use of sun and wind power in New Jersey.

‘We have a great building to do this on, and we wanted to be the first kid on the block to get in on it,’ Vasser said. This helps a young industry grow into a mature one, helps reduce our dependence on oil, and produces electricity that does not increase carbon emissions into the air,’ he said of the multi million-dollar project.” (more…)

Solar energy currently generates .1% of the electricity used in the U.S. According to a study released today, this will change rapidly as the cost of electricity increases and the cost of solar energy drops.

The Utility Solar Assessment Study produced by Clean Edge and Co-op America finds that solar energy is already reaching cost parity with conventional sources in some areas of the U.S. where electric rates are highest. By 2015, this will be achieved in many more areas, including Boston, San Diego, and New York. By 2025, cost parity will be achieved throughout the U.S.

The implications of this are huge. The U.S. solar photovoltaic market now relies heavily on state incentives to lower the cost of solar energy. Many people utilize solar energy because it is “the right thing to do” or businesses like the positive publicity solar brings. (more…)

The planets may be aligned to finally make solar competitive with coal, according to an article in Bloomberg.com by Greg Chang. Rising natural gas prices, the extension of tax credits for solar investment, and the near-certainty that carbon emissions caps will be imposed by the next U.S. administration, will make it happen. A concentrated solar thermal plant in California’s Mojave Desert, run by FPL, Inc., uses 550,000 mirrors to concentrate solar power.

“At noon on a typical workday, technicians in a two-story control room monitor a dozen screens showing the heat generated by each array of mirrors. As temperatures creep past 700 degrees, icons blink to red from green, indicating the center is ready to feed electricity to the California grid.”

The resulting steam turns turbines that generate electricity — enough to power 112,55 L.A.-area homes. Concentrated solar thermal’s potential has not escaped the attention of forward-thinking investors with big money:

“Chevron, Goldman Sachs, FPL, PG&E and other companies have filed more than 50 applications with the Bureau of Land Management to lease government-owned desert property for solar power systems. Google’s philantropic division put $10 million into eSolar, a start-up in Pasadena, California.” –Greg Chang, Bloomberg.com

A May 16 article in the New York Times focused on the debate in Germany regarding whether generous subsidies for solar energy should be continued. Buried in the story was the remarkable fact that Germany has created 40,000 jobs in formerly blighted industrial areas by “turbo-charging” the growth of the solar industry there. Imagine if our government took a leadership role in jump-starting solar production in areas like Pittsburgh, Indiana, and Michigan, where much of the infrastructure and work force still remain from the declining steel and auto industries. Some facts:

• Germany has half the sunshine hours of San Diego.
• An American company, Signet Solar, chose to build its thin film plant in Germany, not the U.S.
• The engine that grew Germany’s solar industry is its feed-in tariff, which requires power companies to buy citizen-produced solar energy at an above-market rate for 20 years. Citizens have responded — by putting solar panels on nearly every available surface.
• Spain, France, Italy and Greece have copied Germany’s subsidy plan. California is using a version of it by requiring utilities to pay customers rebates for the amount of energy they would have bought if they didn’t have solar modules.
• Growing solar has helped other alternative energy production to grow as well: Germany gets 14.2 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, putting it ahead of the EU target of 12.5 percent from renewables by 2010.

Critics of the subsidies argue that they will eventually make solar energy too costly vs. other energy sources; defenders argue that the support for solar still doesn’t match subsidies to the dirty and declining coal industry, and that conventional energy costs will rise at a higher rate. Others charge that this is a classic attempt by large centralized power companies to weaken the role of distributed generation — citizen-generated, de-centralized power sources. Whether or not Germany decreases subsidies at a faster rate than planned, for now they are the world’s largest market for PV systems.

“To develop a technology, you’ve got to create an industry,” said Mr. Milner, the chief executive of Q-Cells, referring to the German success story. “You can wait and wait and wait for costs to come down, but it takes too long.” –Mark Landler, New York Times, 5/16/08

This post is designed as a complement to a recent story by Timothy Hurst on article U.S. Investors and renewable energy.

Renewable energy has attracted a lot of attention lately as the world looks for cleaner ways to power our world. Wind and solar stand as the most recognizable clean, green dynamos, but they still struggle to compete with traditional and entrenched power producers. True to conventional economic values, competition is everything. Yet, in the U.S.A. these technologies have survived in the dog-eat-dog industry for decades mostly without the aid of government subsidies (unlike coal and oil), and many claim that renewables could take off with just a little help from Uncle Sam. What are the obstacles? Are government subsidies the only saving grace for renewables? This post hopes to shed some light on the topic and burn through the conflicting noise that surrounds this fundamental and controversial industry.

It seems like I’m always reading articles about improvements, investments, and the promise of renewable energy. For a more practical perspective, I recently asked a successful businessman, who sometimes works with solar panels, for his opinion. Did he think that solar was going to boom in the next few years? His opinion was that the industry would need more government subsidies to really take off. Even with high oil prices, it was still simply too expensive to invest on a small scale. You might regain your initial investment in 15+ years in ideal conditions. Even in states with incentives to support renewable energy, it’s expensive. His view echoed my cousin’s frustration. Yet despite the initial cost, renewables are still an attractive option. As expensive as it may be to buy and install solar panels, it’s also very expensive ($1.8-billion and rising) to build a new coal-fired power plant with “clean coal” technologies. Hidden costs also plague coal power plants: the cost to clean up mercury emissions, the water required to operate, and in some places, the cost of carbon credits. Finally, the bottom line: how much does it cost to generate each kilowatt hour? Compare two graphs, one for coal and one for solar, and you may be surprised. (more…)

The National Governors Association (NGA) pretty much agrees that global warming is a problem that needs action, but they’re hardly at a consensus on what to do about it.

NGA chairman, Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) launched a year-long initiative called, “Securing a Clean Energy Future,” that outlines how to diversify the U.S.’s energy sources. The Governors agree that more clean technology - like wind power and solar power - will have to be added to the energy mix, but oil and coal-producing states are worried about regulations that put a cost on the pollution that comes from burning fossil fuels. If states are going to regulate the pollution, governors like Governor Joe Manchin (D-WV) want help financing technologies that could make burning coal cleaner, or help exploring carbon capture and sequestration methods. Others, like Governor Haley Barbour (R-MS), took a harder line and called the option of a carbon tax “stupid.”

General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt even made an appearance to address why business is taking action on global warming and why many corporations are asking for stronger national regulations of carbon dioxide. But that didn’t sway some governors: “I don’t think there’s any kind of consensus among the people that were in there; we’re almost 50 different opinions,” said Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (R). Work continues to hammer out a joint NGA global warming policy.

Infozine.com

Schott, AG has just broken ground on a facility that will manufacture solar PV cells and receivers. Governor Bill Richardson celebrated the creation of 350 jobs in the short term and 1,500 jobs when the plant is running to capacity. New Mexico has a Renewable Portfolio Standard, requiring that a portion of the state’s energy production must come from renewable sources. Renewable Energy World estimates that there are currently 8.5 million jobs created from renewable energy industries, not only in engineering, but in manufacturing, construction, management, and accounting.

“By the year 2030, the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries could generate up to $4.5 trillion in revenue in the U.S., but only with the appropriate public policy. This would include a renewable portfolio standard, renewable energy incentives, public education, and R&D” –ASES

The beauty of green collar jobs is that they can’t be outsourced: they are local and they are looking toward the future. One source of jobs in renewable energy is at AlternativeEnergy.com.

Despite all the talk about solar energy, it only generates a measly .1% of electricity in the US. Meanwhile, national demand for electricity is growing by 2% annually. Considering that solar technology has been in use for decades, why is it not more widespread?

Cheap Fossil Fuels

Even though sunlight is free, fossil fuels in the US have been widely available at a very low cost. There are extensive coal fields all across the country. Nationally, coal produces about 50% of our electricity, with a majority of it being used for base load. That means that coal plants produce a steady stream of electricity a majority of the time.

Natural gas however has skyrocketed in price over the last 6 years. It is widely used to generate electricity during peak times, typically on warmer days when we are cranking up the air conditioning. Natural gas plants can start up quickly and come to the rescue when needed, but the cost of fuel has gotten quite high recently.

Solar energy is very capable of producing peak electricity and is ideally suited for for it. Solar radiation is what causes us to need air conditioning in the first place. The utility companies have started taking notice of solar energy’s potential to generate electricity during peak demand.

(more…)

A report commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says that renewable energy is making a difference in the fight against global warming and that we need more of it. In fact, renewable energy is the best way to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

At least 56 nations have policies that promote renewable energy and 44 countries, states, and provinces have requirements that a certain portion of their energy must come from renewable sources.

All told, the Renewables 2007: Global Status Report found that renewable energy continued its double-digit growth in 2007 and that more than 5 gigatons (5 billion tons) of CO2 were avoided. By the end of this year, investment in wind power, solar power, and other technologies should surpass $100 billion.

Wind power receives the largest share of that investment, beating out large hydropower.

So how to do we keep this momentum going? While renewable energy may have moved from an “alternative” source into mainstream use, Mohamed El Ashry, head of the global policy network REN21 that produced the report with the WorldWatch Institute, said that policymakers can do more:

“[Renewable energy] growth is being driven by policies to promote renewable energy, which have mushroomed over the past few years. What’s needed now are binding targets in an international agreement to establish policies that can rapidly accelerate the large-scale deployment of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels.”

Unlike the promises of future technologies like “cleaner” coal or mainstream carbon sequestration, renewable energy is the best option to mitigate global warming because it is here, now, and making an impact. The UNEP reports that the costs of renewable energy will continue to decline and that the clean energy sector is an avenue to economic development, energy security, local environmental benefits, and a global warming solution.

News Blaze
Reuters, via Thoughts on Global Warming Blog
United Nations Environment Programme

Scientific American has a thought-provoking proposal in its January 2008 issue. The magazine proposes a massive, far-reaching plan to get solar power generating 69 percent of America’s electricity 35 percent of our total energy by 2050, thus replacing all of our foreign oil needs and slashing global warming emissions. Below are some of the highlights of that “solar grand plan.”

Technology

The American Southwest would be the home of massive amounts of solar power needed for this clean energy conversion. Specifically, two types of solar power would be employed: Photovoltaic (PV) cells and concentrated solar power.

According to the solar grand plan, 30,000 square miles of PV cells would provide 3,000 gigawatts (GW) of energy. The “30,000 square miles” part made me flinch, but already existing solar installations indicate that the land needed for each gigawatt-hour of solar energy in the Southwest is less that the amount of land needed to run a coal plant and mine the fossil fuel for it.

Concentrated solar power would supply about one-fifth of the solar energy in the plan. Concentrated solar power uses long metallic mirrors that focus the sun’s rays onto a pipe filled with fluid. The fluid is heated and runs through a heat exchanger that produces steam that turns a turbine. Nine plants like this already exist in the in U.S. (more…)