On the surface, the bill appears to have nothing to do with solar energy. But dig deeper and you will find a  ”Buy American” provision within the bill that requires the defense department to buy American-made solar panels. The spreading of such a “Buy American” trend throughout the United States could affect China’s solar panel manufacturers, which import a good deal of their wares into the U.S.

According to the New York Times, the bill was formed toward the end of the latest lame duck session of Congress and is likely a response to accusations that China, in an effort to become the world’s largest supplier of solar panels, has overly and unfairly subsidized its solar industry. Unlike the U.S. and many other countries, which provide subsidies to solar panel buyers, China subsidizes producers. Its panel prices have gotten so low, say critics, that it has hurt the solar panel market in the U.S. and elsewhere, where manufacturers cannot compete in price.

The trade issues between China and the U.S. go beyond this latest solar scenario. The Chinese government was heavily critical of President Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus package because it applied a government procurement of construction materials, many of which are used to install solar panels atop buildings. On the other hand, the U.S. government is still examining past clean energy subsidies implemented by the Chinese government. If any were made in violation of international trade law, the U.S. is likely to file a case with the World Trade Organization.

A complete ban of Chinese solar products is highly unlikely. In fact, it’s pretty much impossible. But it will be interesting to monitor the issue, which will undoubtedly be brought up when Chinese President Hu Jintao visits the United States next week. Will this issue have an effect on residential solar panel prices? Probably not.

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Gabrielle Giffords has been serving in the U.S. Congress since 2007.

One of the nation’s strongest supporters of solar energy is still in critical condition today in Arizona’s University Medical Centre after being shot in the head on Saturday morning outside of a Safeway near Tucson, Arizona.

Representative Gabrielle Giffords was holding her first “Congress on Your Corner” meeting of 2011 when she and 19 others were hit during a single-shooter rampage that left six people dead and 16 wounded. Giffords was shot in the head, but doctors were able to perform emergency surgery and are now optimistic that Giffords will survive the shooting.

Giffords has been an advocate for a host of key solar energy initiatives since her election to the U.S. Congress in 2007. But she really upped her support beginning in October 2009 when by introducing the Solar Technology Roadmap Act, which, in Gifford’s words, “is aimed at charting the course for federally funded solar research, development and demonstration projects…”

The act was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives later that same month. In July 201o, Giffords fought feverishly to secure the $1.45 billion Federal Government loan guarantee needed to create Arizona’s largest solar energy plant — the Abengoa Solar Project in Gila Bend, Arizona. During her latest re-election campaign, Giffords argued in favor of creating solar energy incentives to help lower cost and increase demand. Earlier in 2010, Giffords introduced the “Solar for Schools Act” to make installing solar energy systems at schools more affordable.

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Customers will at first pay a bit more each month on their utility bills. Homeowners can expect to see a 5 cent per month increase. Bigger consumers of power, meanwhile, will see an increase of about 66 cents each month.

The law will also help create jobs within the state. After all, more solar power to the utility companies means more solar facilities in the state. And those facilities will need workers in order to function smoothly.

The added solar energy to the state’s utility grid will also help lay the foundation for a cleaner energy future, as electricity consumption is growing in Maryland at 2.7 percent each year — 25 percent higher than the national average. Of the 50 states, Maryland ranks 41st in total energy consumption per capita and 30th in the average annual increase in total energy consumption.

Because of the new law, Maryland’s timetable for meeting its renewable energy standard will be moved up. In April 2008, Maryland required 20 percent of its total electricity to come from renewable sources by 2022, with two percent of that amount coming from solar energy sources.

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At 10,000 pages, it’s not exactly light reading. So, in an effort to save you some time, we’ve whittled down the plan — officially called the Draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement — to highlight the most important details.

To begin with, the draft identifies 24 area in six states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah — that are best suited for large-scale solar energy projects. According to Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey, the areas were chosen because (1) there is ample land to accommodate large-scale solar plants, and (2) there’s the opportunity to build such plants while doing minimal environmental damage, such as uprooting entire species or draining water resources. If you remember, concern over the safety of local fauna was a major point of debate throughout the approval process of the Blythe Solar Project in California.

Another aspect of the plan will make life easier for solar project developers by expediting the project application process. Past experience indicates that currently the process is slow and unduly cumbersome. The Washington Post reports, for instance, there are solar project applications pending approval that date back to the George W. Bush Administration. And even though the U.S. Department of Interior has approved eight utility-scale solar projects in the past three months, there are over 100 applications still in in the queue.

The government’s plan to is to produce another 24,000 MW of electricity over the next two decades. During that time, the feds also plan to open up two million acres of land outside of the designated zones for more solar development.

Now the plan is open to public comments for the next 90 days — and will likely have to go through a bit of editing before gaining final approval. We’ll keep you up to speed on its progress.

If you want a three-minute crash course on the draft, check it out here.

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As it stands, the program gives a 30 percent cash rebate to commercial developers of renewable energy systems. The program was initially a 30 percent tax credit before the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 turned it in to a cash incentive. The possibility of the program reverting back to a cash incentive on January 1st lit a fire under the leaders of the U.S. clean energy industry, who credit the cash version of the program with jump-starting thousands of clean energy projects throughout the country.

With the economy still not at full strength, these leaders began tirelessly lobbying Congress to extend the  cash grant, saying that many planned projects can’t be built without it because they won’t have sufficient financial backing. Consequently, tens of thousands of renewable energy jobs would be in danger.

As of a month ago, it was unlikely that the lame-duck congress would have enough clout to extend the program. But extensive lobbying by industry leaders like the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and key house democrats like Montana’s Max Baucus, Iowa’s Tom Harkin and North Dakota’s Kent Conrad pushed congress into action.

While not official, the measure is expected to pass during a vote this coming Monday as part of a revised compromise tax bill. Here are list of energy related measures that are included in the bill, courtesy of Brighter Energy:

• The start-of-construction deadline for the cash grant in lieu of tax credit program, established in Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
• The current per-gallon tax credits and outlay payments for ethanol as well as the existing 54 cents per gallon tariff on imported ethanol and related 22.67 cents per gallon tariff on ETBE.
• The dollar-per-gallon production tax credits for biodiesel and for diesel fuel created from biomass, as well as the 10 cents-per-gallon small agri-biodiesel producer credit.
• The credit for manufacturers of energy-efficient residential homes.
• The Section 45M credit for US-based manufacture of energy-efficient clothes washers, dishwashers and refrigerators.

As soon as the vote takes place next Monday, GetSolar will give you the final tally. You can find out more about the benefits the grant extension will bring to the renewable energy industry here.

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The Treasury Grant Program gives installers of qualified solar energy systems a cash rebate that covers 30 percent of the system’s cost. When we flip the calendar to 2011, that cash incentive will revert back to a 30-percent incentive tax credit (ITC) as it was before the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act turned it in to a cash program.

Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) proposed a bill that included extending the grant, but the House nixed the bill by a 53-37 margin. It needed 66 votes to pass. Advocates of the program were then hoping that President Obama would include an extension of the TGP as part of the recently announced tax cut program. Those hopes were not realized.

The clean energy cash grant is important to the clean energy industry for reasons that are better explained by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), which is advocating an extension of the program as it currently exists through December 31, 2012:

“The Treasury Grant Program is needed because many renewable developers have little or no tax liability and thus are reliant on “tax equity” financing to benefit from the ITC. The TGP eliminates the need to secure scarce tax equity to finance a commercial solar project. The absence of tax equity financing continues today, and will likely persist through 2012. Due to global economic conditions, a big gap remains between the total amount of financing renewable energy developers need and what money is available. The grant program expires at the end of 2010. However, the tax equity market has still not recovered from the Wall Street collapse.”

If the TGP is not extended, we’ll see a chilling effect immediately, according to Chief Executive of the American Wind Energy Association Denise Bode. Bode says that in Texas alone, 3,000 jobs would be in jeopardy because some of the wind projects in the state can’t be built without the grant. Texas is currently home to more wind energy capacity than any state in the country. Nationwide, Bode estimates that some 20,000 jobs are at stake in the wind energy industry.

Late on Thursday night ABC News reported that an extension of the program is now likely, as many House and Senate democrats have rushed to the defense of the clean energy incentive. Seventeen senators and 81 House members each wrote separate letters to their leaders in support of the program — and they’re confident that something will get done before the New Year’s Eve deadline. Stay tuned.

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On Tuesday, state lawmakers changed their ways and approved $31 million in federal stimulus funds for those homeowners previously cut off when the rebate program ran dry. The rebate funds – $2.5 million for air conditioners and $29 million for solar energy systems — won’t cover everyone. But the Florida Independent says the stimulus dollars should cover every homeowner in the state who applied for the rebate on time.

There is currently no solar rebate program in Florida, a state that has made some puzzling moves in order to try to come up with the money to fund such a program. Despite this, Florida — with 39 megawatts (MW) – still ranks sixth in the nation in installed solar capacity. This is partly due to all the sunshine in the state begging people to install solar, and partly due to Gainesville’s feed-in. So many people were interested that program that it quickly ran out of funds and has a waiting list of seven years.

At least those waiting for checks through the state’s solar rebate program won’t have to wait THAT long…

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It’s not over ’til the fat lady sings, however. During a lame-duck session of Congress, lawmakers will debate whether to extend the grant. If it’s not renewed, the grant will revert to a tax credit, also worth 30 percent of system costs. Because cash is more valuable than a tax credit — particularly in slow economic times — the solar grant has proved to be a real boon for renewable energy projects and green-jobs creation.

Supporters of the cash incentive say it helped install roughly 1,000 megawatts (MW) of solar-electric capacity in the U.S. this year, and helped generate enough clean energy to power 220,000 average American homes. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the cash incentive has helped finance over 1,300 renewable energy projects in 41 states.

The incentive is extremely important to the growth of the clean energy industry in the U.S. Cash appeals to lenders and investors who are thinking about funding solar projects, and an extension, makes financings “easier and cheaper,” according to First Solar’s spokesman Alan Bernheimer. In 2010, the U.S. was able to install more than double the amount of  solar capacity installed during 2009 — and triple of what was installed in 2008 — thanks largely to the federal solar grant program. Without the cash incentive, project developers will have to look for investors who want to offset taxable income with tax credits — an approach called “tax equity” financing. In a weak economy — like that of 2008-09 — those investors are few and far between.

Solar energy project finance lawyer Keith Martin believes there’s a 40 percent to 50 percent chance of extending the cash incentive during the lame duck session. If  it is extended — which unfortunately seems unlikely — it will likely be part of a larger bill that will extend  most of the tax cuts implemented by President George W. Bush.

Congress has already begun its session — we’ll be sure to pass along information relative to the incentive program as we learn more.

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Undersecretary of Energy Cathy Zoi drew similar comparisons  between the new Home Energy Score (HES) initiative  and the efficiency-rating system the U.S. Department of Transportation uses to grade vehicles. Qualified inspectors will examine the homes and enter their findings into an online program designed to do three things: (1) generate a ranking for the home on a one to 10 scale, (2) predict how much a home’s score could be improved if energy efficiency upgrades are made, and (3) calculate how much money homeowners will save by making the improvements.

Officials told the USATODAY that the new audits will be tested in nine communities before going national in summer 2011. They will cost less than half of what the current private audits cost now, which can sometimes top $350. After going through the audit, homeowners will be eligible for federally insured Power Saver loans of up to $25,000 for energy efficient upgrades. The loans will run under a two-year pilot program beginning in 2011, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates that 24,000 households will qualify for an average loan of $12,500 during the two-year test run.

The loans will cover energy efficiency improvements such as duct sealing, insulation, doors and windows, water heaters, solar panels, geothermal systems and HVAC systems. Both the new energy audit system and Power Saver loans are part of the Obama administration’s attempt to improve home energy efficiency across the nation. The loans were born out of Vice President Joe Biden’s Middle Class Task Force intended to expand green job opportunities and energy efficiency nationwide. According to Vice President Biden, over 200,000 U.S. homes have already been retrofitted through the program.

A detailed audit system that shows homeowners cost savings could go a long way toward boosting that 200,000 figure. Earlier this month, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy issued a report saying that homeowners will trim their energy use only if they know how much energy they use, receive feedback on their consumption and are given incentives to cut back.

What does all this mean? Potentially huge savings — for homeowners and the nation as a whole. A few years back the consulting firm McKinsey estimated that energy efficiency measures could save the U.S. $1.2 trillion over the course of the coming decade.

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Following the event — a celebration of Cogenra’s new solar installation at the winery — the three men spoke with Forbes Magazine’s Mike Isaac. Here are a few highlights of that conversation:

1. Technology development is key. Former Prime Minister Blair made no bones about his lack of tech knowledge, but he also made clear that cost- and efficiency-related improvements in cleantech will be a driving force behind widespread adoption of green solutions. The reason? For the most part, people don’t want to sacrifice their standard of living in order to save the world. “People are very happy and prepared to use clean technology. But not if you tell them to do something that’s unrealistic for their life,” Blair told Isaac. Blair also said that he is “convinced that developing technological solutions is the key to dealing with environmental issues.”

Khosla could not agree more, which is why he has invested over $10 million in Cogenra Solar. True to its name, Cogenra specializes in solar cogeneration, that is using sunlight to both create electricity and heat water. Cogenra claims its integration method can produce as much as five times the clean energy an equally-sized solar photovoltaic (PV) system can produce.

2. Competition among cleantech firms is a good thing. Both Blair and Khosla have long advocated the merits of a competitive marketplace — the notion that, in the long run, only companies that provide the best solutions at the best price will survive.

Blair and Khosla are not alone in their favorable outlook on competition. Some heads of smaller green tech companies, like Jim Nelson, CEO of 3D Solar in Santa Barbara, California, also welcome market competition. 3D Solar makes solar panels that the company says cost an average of 10 percent less than standard panels. Nelson told Los Angeles Times reporter Tiffany Hsu that green companies have been too reliant on government help and that less government backing would drive innovation and increase private investment.

3. It’s important to find solutions through policy making. Khosla is known for being critical of any individual — environmentalists, in particular — who identify problems but don’t offer any solutions. On this front, Blair emphasized that the creation of solutions must be encouraged through sound policy. Specifically, Blair is calling for policies that create incentives for green tech companies that find the best solutions for the future.

That means not all green tech companies will make it in the end. ”Some fail, some survive,” said Cogenra CEO Almogy, when asked about the uncertainty in cogeneration investment while so much money is being invested in PV companies. “The best ones survive. I think people will learn where the economics work. It’s all about economics.”

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