The Tea Party Wants to Help You Go Solar

SLATE. By Josh Voorhees. April 23, 2014.  Photo by David McNew/Getty Images  Last week, with little fanfare and even less debate, Oklahoma lawmakers quietly voted to reverse a nearly four-decade-old law that had barred utility companies from charging customers who install solar panels on their homes more than those who don’t. The bill, which passed almost unanimously, would have effectively cleared the way for utilities in the Sooner State to force homeowners who install solar panels to pay for both the electricity they buy from the grid and for a portion of the electricity they sell back to it. The vote marked a rare victory for power companies in their quest to stymie the growth of the rooftop solar industry. It also represented a sharp departure from the wave of well-publicized, big-dollar federal and state efforts currently aimed at making solar energy cost competitive with more traditional energy sources like coal and natural gas.  TUSK boasts an impressive record of defeating the utility companies’ effort to make solar panels less appealing for homeowners.  Then, on Tuesday, to the surprise of pretty much everyone involved, Oklahoma’s Republican governor, Mary Fallin, issued an executive order largely undercutting the provision, dealing an unexpected defeat to major utilities and their deep-pocketed backers—a group that includes the Koch brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council, a powerful national membership group for conservative state lawmakers.  Perhaps the only thing more surprising was who had helped defeat Oklahoma’s power companies. Tucked among the usual green suspects were the type of advocates that typically don’t associate with the clean energy movement but have nonetheless proved crucial to securing a political victories in a string of dark-red states: Tea Party conservatives.

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Solar Industry Seen as Winning Bet for $1.3 Billion Skagen Fund

Solar industry companies are set for a “boom” as falling costs make harnessing the sun’s energy a more competitive alternative, according to Norwegian fund manager Skagen AS. “We now have a situation where solar is competitive with traditional energy in the grid or off the grid,” Geir Tjetland, who helps manage the 960 million-euro ($1.3 billion) Skagen Vekst (STVEKST) fund, said in an interview in Stavanger yesterday. “About 0.4 to 0.5 percent of all energy consumed is solar. This will grow a lot in the next five to 10 years.” The industry is recovering from a two-year battering that was triggered by a slump in prices and industry overcapacity just as European governments reduced subsidies because of slowing economic growth. That led to sharp declines in the industry’s biggest companies, including GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. (3800), and REC Silicon ASA. GCL-Poly has climbed 32 percent over the past year, REC Silicon has surged 278 percent. The benchmark BI Global Large Solar Energy Index of 15 manufacturers, which slumped 87 percent from a February 2011 peak through November 2012, has rallied more than fourfold from its trough. 
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How to Sniper-Proof the Electrical Grid

For years, lawmakers and critics have warned that our aging electrical grid is vulnerable not just to natural disasters, but to physical attack. “Our enemies have the motive, the means, and the capacity to attack our grid with potentially catastrophic consequences,” Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) told Bloomberg last year. “The question is whether the utilities have the same determination to protect our country against these threats.” A newly revealed incident is evidence they don't—or even the wherewithal to keep the public informed about said threats. The Wall Street Journal reports that nearly a year ago, snipers attacked a power plant operated by PG&E and nearly caused a blackout in parts of California. First, someone cut telephone cables in an underground vault. The Journal describes what happened next: "Within half an hour, snipers opened fire on a nearby electrical substation. Shooting for 19 minutes, they surgically knocked out 17 giant transformers that funnel power to Silicon Valley." None of the shooters have been caught. Officials were able to keep the lights on by routing power around the station, but the man who was serving as the chairmen of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the time, Jon Wellinghoff, is so concerned that another attack is immanent that he went public about the breach. Wellinghoff called it "the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred." He says that if the attack were copied, and carried out to scale, it could knock out the grid "and black out much of the country." The problem, as he sees it, is that there are 2,000 such substations across the country, and if only a handful of them were knocked out at once, he believes widespread outages would follow. Naturally, Wellinghoff feels that security is inadequate, and is pushing for more protection at transformer sites. It's a familiar call to action that's been sounded in response to the rising specter of a number of grid-threatening events—hacker intrusions, downed power lines during a weather disaster, terrorist attacks aimed directly at power plants, even that mostly laughable EMP scenario—but this time with real life action at its core.
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Los Angeles Goes All In on Rooftop Solar Panels - CLEAN LA Solar PV

 

By Bill DiBenedetto | July 10th, 2013 Don’t think it’s possible to provide clean and renewable energy that creates jobs and fuels private investment? Think again and then check out CLEAN LA Solar.  A program developed and supported by the Los Angeles Business Council, a coalition of environmental, business, health and research organizations, and the CLEAN LA Coalition, it’s the largest urban rooftop solar program in the nation. Its five-year goal is to power more than 34,000 homes while creating some 4,500 construction, installation, design engineering, maintenance and administrative jobs in Los Angeles.   CLEAN LA Solar allows businesses and commercial property-owners to generate energy for the city’s power grid through rooftop solar panels, and then sell the power to the Department of Water and Power (DWP). This policy is known as a feed-in-tariff (FiT), and is a great way to promote clean, solar energy.  California has a legislative requirement to generate 33 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. Currently, most of L.A.’s renewable power is generated outside the L.A. basin and transmitted inefficiently to customers. By contrast, the CLEAN LA Solar program will provide incentives for clean-energy production within city limits. The result will be more efficient power delivery and a reduction in the city’s reliance on polluting, coal-fired power plants. The FiT also does not require new or upgraded transmission lines.  The goal is to generate 150 megawatts of solar electricity, or enough power for 30,000 homes. The business council hopes to attract investments totaling about $500 million from a group of companies that want to invest in the city’s push to go green. The program’s first project site is an 80-unit apartment building in North Hollywood that went online with 336 250-watt panels (for 84 kW of installed capacity) on June 26, 2013.
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Solar Dominates New US Generating Capacity

Big solar’s big year just keep getting bigger.  The monthly energy infrastructure report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [PDF], which tracks utility-scale projects, shows that through October, 190 solar units totaling 2,528 megawatts in installed capacity had been added in 2013. That’s more than double the 1,257 MW for the same period in 2012, and constitutes 21 percent of all new electrical generating capacity this year. Through the first three quarters of last year, solar had accounted for just 7 percent of new capacity additions in the year.  Solana Generating Station, Gila Bend, Ariz. (image via Arizona Public Service) October, in particular, was a huge month for utility-scale solar, with the five projects with capacities in double figures coming online – the 280-MW Solana Generating Station in Arizona; 139-MW Campo Verde Solar project in Imperial County, Calif., a 36-MW final phase of the 249-MW California Valley Solar Ranch in San Luis Obispo County, Calif.; the 30 MW Spectrum Solar project in Clark County, Nev.; and the 10-MW Indianapolis International Airport Solar Farm Phase 1.  As the Solar Energy Industries Association gleefully pointed out on Monday, “12 new solar units accounted for 504 MW or 72.1 percent of all new capacity last month” in the United States.
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Elon Musk’s Latest Innovation: Bonds Backed by Solar City's Rooftop Solar Power

We all know that Elon Musk is one of the world’s great innovators. The South African-born developer of PayPal, and current CEO of both Telsa Motors and Spacex may well be a legend in his own time. In 1992, he dropped out of a Ph.D program in Physics at Stanford to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations in the Internet, space exploration and renewable energy. To date, he has achieved major successes in two out of three. And now, as the Chairman of SolarCity, he might have achieved a Triple Crown. The solar installation company has just become the first of its kind to offer bonds backed by rooftop solar panels. This financial innovation will allow solar companies to move away from becoming manufacturers and distributors of solar equipment, into energy companies, selling solar power as a service to their customers. The move is reminiscent of the move Xerox Corporation made back in the 60s, when they moved from selling copiers to selling copies by the click through leasing arrangements. The move proved to be critical to the company’s long-standing success. SolarCity sold $54.4 million worth of bonds last week based on the 68,000 contracts they currently hold. Bloomberg states that the company might raise an additional $200 million early next year.
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LA Could Create Tens of Thousands of New Jobs if Solar Were on 5% of Rooftops

By Marc Lifsher November 13, 2013. Los Angeles County could create tens of thousands of new jobs and reduce global-warming-causing carbon emissions if solar-voltaic panels are installed on just 5% of available rooftops, says a just-issued report. The study by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA, released Wednesday, predicts that 29,000 installer jobs would open up. Carbon emissions would be reduced by 1.25 million tons, the equivalent of taking a quarter of a million cars off the roads each year.  Researchers came up with the data doing the Los Angeles Solar and Efficiency Report (LASER), which includes detailed maps of nine sub-regions that have the potential for cost-effective and efficient solar arrays on buildings. The "Solar Atlas" is to be used as a guide for local government officials, building owners and investors in planning to expand the use of renewable energy and to mitigate the effects of climate change. The three zones with the best potential for expanding rooftop solar power are the San Fernando Valley, East Los Angeles and downtown Los Angeles, researchers said. All three areas have many large roofs and enjoy many sunny days, they said.
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Solar in Italy - Renewable Energy Provides 25% of Power for the Country

By Mark Smith of Solar Forward. Italy is a beautiful country, and it gets over 25% of its electricity from renewables! I'm greatly enjoying my visit to Italy, and touring solar installations across the picturesque countryside. From the looks of it, the solar panels are from China with no labels on them. Windmills are everywhere spinning faster than I have ever seen. As I travel the Italian countryside, I’m hearing great stories of energy independence. There seems to be more wind and sun power here, than anywhere in Europe. I’ve been told there is never a problem passing an inspection for a solar installation, there is no 3 foot or 4 foot rule on top or side for homes or businesses ("who wants to walk on burning building and you have insurance, no?"), and up time is great once the projects get finished. Sicily has done more in less time for renewable energy, and can even export electricity on a good day. The National Research Council released Sicily’s Solar Report 2012, showing that there are 250 PV companies, 20,000 solar plants employing 3,000 people, and 5 million solar panels on the island, of which 93% are installed on the rooftops of private homes which supplies 10% of the electricity need in the region. I’m impressed.

SunPower Buys Greenbotics for Solar Panel Washing Robots

By Ehren Goossens - Nov 3, 2013  SunPower Corp. (SPWR), the second-largest U.S. solar manufacturer, bought Greenbotics Inc., maker of robots that clean panels to increase the amount of power they can generate.  The robots clean dirt and dust off of photovoltaic and solar thermal arrays and cut water use by 90 percent, San Jose, California-based SunPower said today in a statement. Terms of the deal, the seventh acquisition SunPower has done since it was formed, weren’t disclosed. SunPower plans to use the systems at projects it develops, especially in the western U.S., the Middle East and Chile, as an alternative to pressure washers and sprayer trucks. The robots will cut water use, save money and boost annual energy yield in dry, dusty regions by as much as 15 percent, according to the release. “It’s half the cost of normal cleaning,” SunPower Chief Executive Officer Tom Werner said in an Nov. 1 interview. The technology, which he likened to a Roomba vacuum cleaner, “is one we can scale.” Robots like ones made by Davis, California-based Greenbotics are becoming more common in the solar industry as a way to reduce installation and maintenance costs and make the power more competitive with fossil fuel. Panel prices have dropped more than 60 percent in the past three years.  
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Back to growth: SunPower to boost solar cell manufacturing by 25%

By Ucilia Wang Oct. 30, 2013 SunPower plans to build a new solar cell factory, a move that reverses the trend of solar manufacturers shuttering factories to deal with an over supply of solar equipment worldwide that began in 2011. Until very recently, closing down solar factories had become a normal occurrence, a natural result of the worldwide glut of solar equipment. But now that trend is starting to reverse, and the latest evidence comes from solar cell maker SunPower, which on Wednesday said it plans to actually increase its solar cell production capacity by 25 percent, or 350 MW.   The Silicon Valley company plans to build out the new factory at a pre-existing manufacturing site in the Philippines and start production in 2015, said CEO Tom Werner during a call to discuss the company’s third-quarter earnings. With the new factory, the company will have about 1.8 GW of solar cell production capacity. And in fact, demand for SunPower’s solar panels has been so strong as of late that the company has been running all of its factories fully over the last two quarters.

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