Archive for February, 2009
If you’re keeping half an eye to the news lately, you’ll have noticed that there’s a lot of buzz about clean energy–solar in particular–as a result of President Obama’s stimulus package, which designated a healthy chunk of change (upwards of $33 billion) to promoting renewable energy development. The President is looking to the private sector to jump on board and swell that figure to the hundreds-of-billions, given such a big federal spending push, and as we move into spring we’ll see how that pans out.
But what does all this mean for you, a homeowner, if you’re interested in installing solar panels to help reduce your electric bill? Does it mean solar is suddenly cheaper? No. But it does mean that we’re seeing states that have previously stalled on solar initiatives suddenly jump into action (most notably Texas), and hopefully more states will follow suit by insituting, renewing, or expanding their solar incentives. What it does mean is that if you’ve been interested in solar all along and have been waiting to see if the federal government would provide the catalyst for your state to commit to making solar affordable for homeowners–well, the moment of truth has arrived. Now is definitely the time to let your local Congress-person know you want to see funds for clean energy in your state help fund small-scale solar.
If you’re interested in a solar electric system for your home and you live in a state with good incentives, it’s always a better idea to act sooner rather than later–programs run out of funding, are designed to scale back over time, or reach their megawatt-capacity goals eventually, and if you wait too long you might find yourself stuck without access to those funds. To find out if your state offers good incentives for solar, check out our handy interactive state incentive map. And if you’re interested in moving forward with learning more about solar panels for your home, fill out our informational web form and one of our friendly GetSolar reps will get in touch with you to answer all your questions.
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Looks like Tennessee is developing a knack for attracting cleantech companies. The German firm Wacker Chemie AG plans to build a $1 billion facility in Bradley County. The factory will produce polycrystalline silicon — a principal component used to make solar panels — and is expected to create up to 500 long-term jobs. As relayed by the Nashville Business Journal,
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is expected to join a host of other officials in Bradley County today to make the official announcement.
“This announcement further enhances Tennessee’s growing reputation as an innovation center in the development and manufacture of clean energy technologies,” Bredesen said in a prepared statement. “I appreciate Wacker Chemie’s investment in Tennessee and its recognition of the productivity of Tennessee workers, and I’m very pleased the company believes this is the best place to enhance its position in this growing economic sector.”
After the Hemlock announcement late last year, Bredesen tasked Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber with attracting six to 10 new companies to the state this year that complement Hemlock, along with other green businesses.
The facility won’t be the first of its kind in the state. In December 2008, Hemlock Semiconductor announced plans for a $1.2 billion polysilicon production facility in Clarksville. That project is expected to create up to 800 jobs.
Bottom line? I’d suggest that Tennessee has joined other states — like Oregon (e.g., Portland and Hillsboro), Texas (e.g., Austin and El Paso) and Nevada, among others – in the scramble to attract cleantech investment.
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Posted by Margaret Collins in Wednesday, February 25th 2009 under: Solar Industry News, Solar Technology
In business for a bare four years, thin film solar module manufacturer First Solar, Inc., just announced the achievement of a somewhat arbitrary yet still resonant goal in the solar world: to manufacture solar for under one dollar per watt. Thin film still isn’t easily deployable for residential solar panel installations, but the cost difference between thin film and traditional silicon modules is tantalizing. And the time scale is pretty amazing–in more than thirty years of commercial production, the cost traditonal silicon-based solar has fallen perhaps 30%. In only a handful of years, thin-film has dropped about twice that. First Solar’s announcement marks an interesting point for thin-film…and perhaps cries a challenge to silicon solar manufacturers.
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Remember when Spain was consistently brought up as a savior of the solar industry? While it’s too soon to hand out any new trophies at this point, we can at least say that Spain’s coming back into the picture.
Although it was always overshadowed by Germany, it bore the hopes of the European solar industry once Germany had to scale back its subsidies. The Iberian nation’s days in the spotlight were, however, cut short by the Spanish Cabinet’s ratification last September of a new solar subsidy cap that was less than even half of the original 1,200 MW subsidy scheme that helped Spain to become the third-largest solar market in the world. The new 500 MW cap arrived after the government declared that the growth of solar in the country had become unsustainable, exceeding by four times the targets it had set for 2010. While advocates of renewable energy mourned and solar industrymen protested, one bright piece of speculation did emerge: according to Spain’s three renewable energy associations—AEF, APPA, ASIF—the new legislation would accelerate the decline in solar electricity prices by allowing Spanish solar companies to become increasingly competitive, with the real cost of photovoltaic production possibly becoming equal to the price of electricity by 2015. (Think this will happen anytime within the next two decades in the U.S.?)
In addition to the subsidy cut, the Spanish government also introduced changes to its solar feed-in tariffs: (for a quick primer on feed-in tariffs, see the second paragraph of this handy post from Adam)
The country’s solar feed-in tariffs are now set at €0.32-0.34 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity from roof-mounted systems and €0.32 [US $0.46] per kWh of electricity from ground-based systems. The cap and the reduced tariffs will result in a significant scale-back of the Spanish solar market over the next two years.
And now, a month behind schedule (and much to the anxiety impatience of the Spanish solar project developers and their suppliers), the Spanish government has unveiled a register of solar projects slated to receive the feed-in tariff for 2009. May the building begin!
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Is it just me, or has there been a lot of recent chatter about state and city governments trying to attract cleantech investment? As outlined by CNET News, the recently passed fiscal stimulus package will extend billions of dollars in grants, tax credits, loans and loan guarantees to the renewable energy sector, including:
- A three-year extension to the tax credit for wind, which would have expired at the end of this year, and an extension until the end of 2013 for geothermal and biomass renewable-energy projects. The credit has been increased to 30 percent of the investment.
- $4.5 billion in direct spending to modernize the electricity grid with smart-grid technologies.
- $6.3 billion in state energy-efficient and clean-energy grants and $4.5 billion to make federal buildings more energy efficient.
- $6 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy systems, biofuel projects, and electric-power transmission facilities.
- $2 billion in loans to manufacture advanced batteries and components for applications such as plug-in electric cars.
- $5 billion to weatherize homes of up to 1 million low-income people.
- $3.4 billion appropriated to the Department of Energy for fossil energy research and development, such as storing carbon dioxide underground at coal power plants.
- A tax credit of between $2,500 and $5,000 for purchase of plug-in electric vehicles, available for the first 200,000 placed into service.
With so much federal money on the table, it makes sense that states (and cities) would redouble their efforts to bring green-collar jobs home to roost. Among those vying for “cleantech hub” status, several states and municpalities have received extra attention in the past week:
On Sunday, the El Paso Times reported on efforts in the Texas legislature to attract funds and promote solar energy research:
So far this session, Texas legislators have filed more than 20 bills dealing with solar and other forms of renewable energy, including a state sales-tax exemption, a green-jobs training program and a move to devote money from the Emerging Technology Fund to solar energy research.
Industry and government leaders are also waiting to find out how much money could be available in the new federal stimulus package. Nationally, $78 billion will be allocated to renewable energy.
Also on Sunday, the Fort Collins Coloradan profiled a local incubator program that aims to bring cleantech to the Fort Collins area:
Fort Collins continues to entice renewable energy companies from as far as Europe and as near as CSU, thanks, in large part, to a local incubator.
Rocky Mountain Innovation Initiative’s, or RMI2, incubator program has added two new companies this year to its ever growing list of start ups. …
Mike Freeman, the city’s chief financial officer, said RMI2 has been successful in attracting innovation-based companies such as Symbios and Wirsol. The commitment of the region to renewable energy presented a unified front for Wirsol.”We do compete heavily, not only in Colorado, but nationally for clean technology,” Freeman said. “Sometimes we are successful, sometimes we are not. But I think we compete very well as a region.”
Finally, on a related note, investment is a two-way street. The Elmira, NY-based Star Gazette reported on T. Boone Picken’s recent efforts to woo the National Governors Association into backing his plan for energy independence:
Pickens made a pitch Saturday to members of the National Governors Association to join the 14 governors who already have signed onto his plan for American energy independence.
“After listening to him, I gave a lot of thought to it,” New York Gov. David Paterson said at the association’s winter meeting in Washington.
”So I’m going to have to get the plan and read it. I haven’t had a chance to do that yet.”
The governors who have signed up already are mostly from Western states that could become part of what Pickens envisions as a windmill corridor stretching from Texas to Canada, and a solar energy corridor stretching from Texas to California.
For more information on these and related issues, check out the Apollo Alliance.
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You heard it from us first: we’ve joined Twitter. We figured if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
We hope to connect with other cleantech enthusiasts while helping to spread the word about our growing family of qualified solar installers. From initial research to project completion, GetSolar is here to simplify your solar purchasing process.
So check us out @getsolar. Whether you’re looking for solar panel installers, green-build architects, global news or grid-free gizmos, you’ll find it here — along with unbiased, informative and entertaining articles.
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Posted by Margaret Collins in Friday, February 20th 2009 under: Solar Homes Tags: cost of solar, EETD
Researchers at the government-funded Environmental Energies Technology Division at Berkeley have released a study (PDF) that shows a significant delcine in the actual cost of solar installations over the past decade. The cost of solar seems to have declined by about $3/watt between 1998 and 2007, though this average is gleaned from systems both small and large, which have very different needs and costs. The San Francisco Chronicle highlights the study’s findings that the cost of solar has yet to equalize across states. The per-watt price for solar still differs by as much as $2/watt or more depending on the state in which you live.
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One of New England’s largest residential solar installers has stepped back from the game in order to focus on commercial sales. Borrego Solar sold its residential sales division to New England competitor groSolar. Borrego is based out of California but has long been one of the leading installers on the East Coast. The sale means that groSolar will be boosted up on the CA residential solar installation scene, as well.
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