Boasting nine co-sponsors, Sanders’ bill is modeled after the generous solar incentives in California and New Jersey, the top states for solar in the U.S. It would offer a direct rebate to buyers of solar systems, starting at $1.75/watt for PV systems and $1/watt for solar hot water systems, declining gradually with either the natural passing of time or with the increased volume of installed solar. To see how this might work—and the money you might save—take a look at our nuts-and-bolts write-up on the California Solar Initiative here.

So what exactly does this mean for you, as the consumer or enterprising business-owner? Grist has an excellent interview with Senator Sanders here, from which we’ve excerpted Sanders’ explanation of how the bill would work.

The [pre-existing] federal tax credit would be up to 30 percent off the cost of a project. That’s a lot.  Let’s say hypothetically you wanted to spend $40,000 on solar. If you take 30 percent off that, you’re down to $28,000. If you get state help you’re down to $25,000. Then the federal government would pay half of that.

While the proposed $2 to $3 billion price tag of Sanders’ initiative is sure to send many on Capitol Hill—and off—up in arms, the senator asserts that his legislation would help to produce 30,000 new megawatts of energy at the end of a 10-year-period. Furthermore, he notes that the proliferation of distributed energy generation is both more cost-effective and labor-intensive than central-plant options, as it avoids the need for increased transmission lines, is faster to build, uses already developed land and creates “more jobs per dollar of investment than its competitors.”

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Net metering is a huge piece of the incentive puzzle for solar homes and businesses and without it, solar growth will suffer a severe blow in the state that has so far blazed a trail for the rest of the country. Bill AB 510–last year’s doomed AB 560, reincarnated–would raise the cap to 5 percent, effectively ensuring long-term growth for California solar.

If you’re a California resident, the Vote Solar Initiative has made it very easy to tell your senator to pass this landmark legislation. Just click here, fill out a simple online form with space for optional comments, and hit “Send my message!” Do your part to protect California’s clean energy future.

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The fact is, solar is just new. Even though the technology (in some cases) has been around for half a century or longer, we truly don’t yet know what long-term impact solar energy plants will have on the land around them. Of course, we didn’t know this when we built the first coal plants, or the first nuclear power plants, and while one could hope we’ve learned from our trials and errors, perhaps one thing we’ve learned is caution. This is an inopportune time for lawmakers to suddenly get cautious about land use, though, as California in particular struggles to meet its solar capacity goals set by the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and managed as the California Solar Initiative. By the end of 2010, says the RPS, California should be getting 20 percent of its power from renewable sources, among them solar electric generation and solar thermal plants. It looks like the state will fall short and need to redouble its efforts to ramp up renewable capacity in time to meet its next milestone of 33 percent by 2020.

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Where’s the solar love gone, you may rightly ask? Deciding exactly how to become less dependent on natural gas–the state’s major energy source–is a challenge for the state that’s so rich in some resources while so poor in others. The solar industry has hoisted Arizona as a poster child for utility scale solar precisely because of the limitless availability of sunlight. The state offers huge tracts of unpopulated land with some of the highest insolation values in the world. But desert solar development hits snags at the environmental level, where the scarcity of water and the delicacy of desert ecosystems come very much into play. Some solar technologies do require a hefty water supply–Concentrating Solar Power, or CSP, uses solar to make steam that powers turbines–but standard photovoltaics are in this way much lower impact than nuclear power. Brewer did also say she’s “committed to making Arizona the solar capital of the world”, a task that may get a bit trickier if new legislation comes on the scene.

The solar industry has been on the edge of its seat for months now with respect to the possibilities of far stricter regulation of desert solar development. Late in 2009, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D–CA) introduced a bill that strives to balance ecological considerations with solar growth in the desert. The bill would put a huge portion of the Mojave Desert off-limit to developers (to the tune of 1,000,000 acres), yet includes provisions to make the review and approval process for solar development faster and more accurately targeted at the best possible sites. This came not long after the “Solar Roadmap Bill”, introduced by U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D–AZ), was approved in the House. The Roadmap is intended to facilitate solar growth with effective goal-making and communication across the industry, a good complement to legislation like Feinstein’s.

A thoughtful analysis in The New York Times today examines the degree to which Feinstein’s “California Desert Protection Act” would promote, rather than discourage, solar development. The bill addresses development concerns that will directly affect the solar industries in Arizona, California, and Nevada, and that will set a precedent for desert solar development across the country.

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“There’s a lot of folks that would just like more rebates,’’ said Philip Giudice, head of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources. “This is really about finding ways to make this work by using public dollars as preciously as we possibly can.’’

The new solar plan, which officials hope to have ready by January 1, has a lot to live up to. The $68 million intended for Commonwealth Solar was supposed to last three to four years, and was instead used up by October 2009, a mere 22 months after the program’s inauguration. Homeowners wishing to harness the sun’s energy received rebates that averaged over $13,000, which were funded by surcharges utilities and electricity customers pay to the state. As the average cost of a residential rooftop solar system in Massachusetts hovers in the $33,500 range, the subsidy is a boon, a deal-maker or –breaker.

“The project is really not doable for the typical homeowner without the rebate,’’ said Joel Frisch, who is planning to install a 4.8-kilowatt system at his Clinton home, funded in part with a $15,120 rebate approved by state officials last week.

Commercial solar projects, too, have been able to benefit greatly from the rebate. As these large systems can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, state support can determine whether or not a project will even get off the ground. Thanks to Commonwealth Solar, many have—by early October, the initiative had funded 208 commercial solar projects, the equivalent of 10.3 megawatts’ worth of generating power, with each project receiving on average a rebate of $138,455. Although the state is still processing some applications, The Boston Globe reports that the first solar program will have subsidized approximately 1,200 solar projects in total, which, when complete, will be able to generate up to 29 megawatts of energy, exceeding expectations.

Details on the new program may be available as early as next week, as state officials wrap up four months of hearings and meetings with solar installers, environmental activists, utility companies, and others about the terms. Among the last matters to be decided is how much utilities will be required to help finance the subsidies.

Although it will be riding on—and hopefully bolstering—the wave of the enthusiasm generated by its predecessor, however, the new solar plan won’t be identical to Commonwealth Solar.

The next state solar program will differ from the first in one important way: It will include a credit-based system, in which utilities will be required to buy electricity credits from residents and businesses with solar panels. The price of credits will help determine the subsidy. Massachusetts officials also expect to provide a traditional rebate for homeowners, to be financed by surcharges that electric customers already pay to a state renewable energy fund.

Apparently, the recent decision of Evergreen Solar—the erstwhile source of Massachusetts’ state solar pride—to outsource hasn’t dampened the Bay State’s determination to go solar. Stay strong, Massachusetts.

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U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), as well as U.S. Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI), publicized the legislation on Tuesday, though Congressman Camp will not be introducing companion legislation to the House until later in November. With huge, recession-fighting hopes pinned to the widespread growth, adoption and utilization of renewable energy—a report from last week estimated that clean energy could produce up to 850,000 manufacturing jobs in the U.S.—the bill is the most recent push from legislators to spur solar production at home. Over the past decade, the U.S. has gone from producing over 40 percent of the world’s solar photovoltaic cells to producing a paltry 5 percent, according to SEIA—a trend that the Solar Manufacturing Jobs Creation Act hopes to directly challenge, particularly since SEIA declares it capable of creating 315,000 U.S.

However, keeping solar businesses away from cheaper (and consequently more cost-effective) pastures is easier said than done, especially when the bottom line comes into view.

“There is a lot of capacity going in the ground in Asia. But I think as companies do their own homework and do cost comparison it is compelling that the costs in China or low — low capital costs, low labor costs, low overhead costs,” said Evergreen Solar’s chief executive Richard Feldt on a conference call with analysts.

Our ears: we’ll keep ‘em close to the ground.

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Additionally, how do we make sure to avoid redundancies in solar R&D, or work to solve some of the biggest remaining challenges for solar, such as best grid integration practices and water resource management? US Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) is sponsoring a bill that may help the solar industry find the structure it needs to answer these questions. On her website, Giffords says:

This legislation is aimed at charting the course for federally funded solar research, development and demonstration projects…It will help the Department of Energy to allocate research and development funds wisely, thereby helping to advance emerging solar technologies quickly and effectively.

Giffords presented her “Solar Technology Roadmap Act” to the House Science & Technology Committee last week, where it received a warm enough welcome to send it out to the House floor at large.  As Renewable Energy World reports,

Giffords’ legislation would require the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to appoint a group of experts to create a long-term plan to guide solar energy research and its transition into commercial uses. The bill also authorizes $2.25 billion for solar research over the next five years.

The group would identify research and development that needs to occur to help improve the performance and reliability of solar technologies, decrease cost, reduce water use and mitigate any negative environmental impacts. It would be subject to a comprehensive revision every three years to keep it current.

The lack of industry-wide structure is not always a bad thing and has led to some very interesting developments, such as New Jersey’s pioneering REC solar incentive program, or Gainesville’s FIT, and solar manufacturing facilities in locations you might not normally expect. But providing clear oversight to the industry could help all sectors better identify unique goals and strategies for meeting them effectively.

We want America to be competing at the top of the industry, leading the way in solar research, development, and deployment. If it fights its way through Congress, Rep. Giffords’ Solar Roadmap may help us achieve just that.

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