Why Conservatives Are Bad on Energy: It’s All About the Costs
By Tom Rooney, CEO, SPG Solar
Conservatives, let’s talk about energy. And why so many conservatives are so
wrong — so liberal, even — on wind and solar energy.
Let’s start with a recent editorial from the home of ‘free markets and free people,”
the Wall Street Journal. Photovoltaic solar energy, quoth the mavens, is a “speculative
and immature technology that costs far more than ordinary power.”
So few words, so many misconceptions. It pains me to say that because, like many
business leaders, I grew up on the Wall Street Journal and still depend on it.
But I cannot figure out why people who call themselves “conservatives” would
say solar or wind power is “speculative.” Conservatives know that word is usually
reserved to criticize free-market activity that is not approved by well, you
know who.
Today, around the world, more than a million people work in the wind and solar
business. Many more receive their power from solar.
Solar is not a cause, it is a business with real benefits for its customers.
Just ask anyone who installed their solar systems five years ago. Today, many
of their systems are paid off and they are getting free energy. Better still,
ask the owners of one of the oldest and most respected companies in America who
recently announced plans to build one of the largest solar facilities in the
country.
That would be Dow Jones, owners of the Wall Street Journal.
Now we come to “immature.” Again, the meaning is fuzzy. But in Germany, a country
1/3 our size in area and population, they have more solar than the United States.
This year, Germans will build enough solar to equal the output of three nuclear
power plants.
What they call immaturity our clients call profit-making leadership.
But let’s get to the real boogie man: The one that “costs far more than ordinary
power.”
I’ve been working in energy infrastructure for 25 years and I have no idea what
the WSJ means by the words “ordinary power.” But, after spending some time with
Milton Friedman whom I met on many occasions while studying for an MBA at the
University of Chicago, I did learn about costs.
And here is what every freshman at the University of Chicago knows: There is
a difference between cost and price.
Solar relies on price supports from the government. Fair enough — though its
price is falling even faster than fossil fuels are rising.
But if Friedman were going to compare the costs of competing forms of energy,
he also would have wanted to know the cost of “ordinary energy.” Figured on the
same basis. This is something the self-proclaimed conservative opponents of solar
refuse to do.
But huge companies including Wall Mart, IBM, Target and Los Gatos Tomatoes figured
it out. And last year so did the National Academy of Sciences. It produced a
report on the Hidden Costs of Energy that documented how coal was making people
sick to the tune of $63 billion a year.
And that oil and natural gas had so many tax breaks and subsidies that were so
interwoven for so long, it was hard to say exactly how many tens of billions
these energy producers received courtesy of the U.S. Taxpayer.
Just a few weeks ago, the International Energy Agency said worldwide, fossil
fuels receive $550 billion in subsidies a year — 12 times what alternatives
such as wind and solar get.
Neither report factored in Global Warming or the cost of sending our best and
bravest into harm’s way to protect our energy supply lines.
Whatever that costs, you know it starts with a T.
All this without hockey stick graphs, purloined emails or junk science.
When you compare the real costs of solar with the fully loaded real costs of
coal and oil and natural gas and nuclear power, apples to apples, solar is cheaper.
That’s not conservative. Or liberal. That comes from an ideology older and more
reliable than both of those put together: Arithmetic.
Solar Market Set to Continue Expansion in 2011
El Segundo, Calif., August 3, 2010—Despite concerns that reductions in government incentives will halt growth in installations of solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems in 2011, iSuppli Corp. predicts the global PV market will continue to expand next year as falling prices make solar energy more attractive, according to iSuppli Corp.
Global PV system installations in 2011 will amount to 20.2 Gigawatts, up 42.7 percent from 14.2GW in 2010. While this represents a significant slowdown from 97.9 percent growth in 2009, it remains an impressive performance in light of expected rollbacks in subsidy programs from various governments.
The attached figure presents iSuppli’s forecast of annual global PV installations.
“Because of the cuts in Feed-in-Tariffs (FITS) in Germany and Italy next year, and the budget concerns in Greece, Italy and Spain, PV installations in 2011 will slow somewhat compared to the blistering pace of 2010,” said Stefan de Haan, senior analyst for iSuppli. “Furthermore, the weakening of the euro versus the Chinese yuan will artificially inflate prices for solar cells and other system components in Europe. But contrary to some observers’ fears, installations will continue to rise at a prodigious rate next year. Modestly falling pricing for solar cells and complete PV systems are expected to more than mitigate the negative impact of the falling FITs and rising yuan.”
Price triumphs
Assuming the U.S. dollar/euro exchange rate remains above $1.20/€, iSuppli predicts crystalline silicon solar cell prices will not increase in 2010 and instead will decline by 5 percent compared to 2010.
Prices for installations in 2011 will fall slightly more, decreasing by approximately 10 percent on average in Europe. Installation prices will decline to compensate for reduced subsidies in the largest markets of Germany, Italy and France.
Because of this decline, the average Return On Investment (ROI) for PV installation projects is expected to remain attractive and to continue to stimulate substantial demand. Even with Italy’s FIT cut of 10 to 27 percent split over the year, the ROI for solar installations completed in the country during 2011 will average 10 percent for major market segments. In Germany, assuming a 13 percent FIT cut, the projected ROI will be in the range of 8 to 10 percent.
Solar upside
With the ROI still positive, leading solar countries will still experience robust growth in PV installations in 2011, although at a slower rate than in 2010.
No. 1 solar energy country Germany will install 9.5GW worth of PV systems in 2011. This will represent a 43.9 percent increase from 6.6GW in 2010, down from 73.4 percent in 2010.
No. 2 solar generator Italy will install 2GW worth of PV systems in 2011, up 53.6 percent from 1.3GW in 2010.
The United States will install the third largest total of PV systems in 2011, at 1.9GW, up 79.3 percent from 1.1GW in 2010. This is down from 152.3 percent growth in 2010.
In fourth and fifth places, respectively, France and Japan will experience healthy expansion, with both countries crossing the 1GW threshold for new installations for the first time.
A notable drop-out during 2011 will be the Czech Republic as its installations plunge to 150MW to 250MW for the year, down from 1GW in 2010. The country’s precipitous decline will be driven by new FIT legislation reducing the current tariffs. Foreign investors drove the market in 2009 and 2010, creating a solar boom comparable to that in Spain in 2008. iSuppli expects that the Czech Republic’s government will take measures to drastically reduce the amount of new solar installations.
Solar event in 2012
Global PV installation growth is set to undergo a major deceleration in 2012, with a rise of only 2.8 percent to 20.8GW for the year.
“iSuppli believes 2012 will be the year when the PV industry weans itself from the generosity of German subsidies,” de Haan said. “The German market will cool off and expand by only 4 to 5GW per year for the next several years. We believe the government aims to keep an orderly progression in order to achieve an ultimate goal of around 80GW of installed PV capacity.”
To learn more, see iSuppli’s report entitled: Global PV Market to Double in 2010, Germany Leads the Way.
Southern California Edison Awards 36 Contracts for Utility-Scale Solar Rooftop Project
Southern California Edison (SCE) awarded 36 contracts to independent power producers for a total of nearly 60 megawatts from photovoltaic solar panels that will produce emission-free energy for SCE customers. The panels will be installed on 31 unused rooftops and five ground-mount sites in SCE’s service territory.
The solar rooftop project, approved by the California Public Utilities Commission in June 2009, calls for a total of 500 megawatts of solar generating capacity, most of it on otherwise unused large warehouse rooftops. Half of the 500 megawatts will be from independent power producers who respond to SCE’s request for offers under competitive solicitations; the remaining 250 megawatts will be owned and operated by SCE. It is expected that this project will create about 1,200 jobs for Southern Californians.
“These contracts make significant strides toward distributed renewable generation for one of the most innovative solar programs in the country,” said Marc Ulrich, SCE vice president, Renewable and Alternative Power. “We’re working to help California meet its Million Solar Roofs goal and supply even more renewable energy to our customers where and when it’s most needed, without the added time and expense to construct major new transmission facilities.” The contracts awarded today are the first executed under the competitive solicitations for independent power producers.
SCE believes that its solar rooftop project will be a boon for the solar industry and consumers alike, with the resulting cost per unit significantly more cost effective than more common residential photovoltaic installations in California. Eventually, this could help drive down installation costs of photovoltaic generation for everyone. When complete, the solar panels will cover an area totaling 4 square miles on about 250 otherwise unused warehouse roofs. The total power production will rival a utility-scale power plant, enough electricity to serve 325,000 average homes at a point in time. SCE has already installed panels on three rooftop warehouses in California’s Inland Empire that are delivering – or are in line to deliver – electricity to the grid.
SCE is the nation’s leading utility for renewable energy. In 2009, SCE delivered 13.6 billion kilowatt hours of renewable power to its customers, about 17 percent of its total power portfolio.
Constellation Energy Completes Solar and Wind Installation for University of Toledo
BALTIMORE, Mar. 29, 2010 – Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) today announced that its subsidiary, Constellation Energy’s Projects & Services Group, has completed installation of a 1.2 megawatt solar and wind power system at the University of Toledo’s Scott Park Campus of Energy and Innovation in Toledo, Ohio. The campus will utilize solar and wind power to generate electricity and the university’s commitment to sustainability also provides students with firsthand educational experiences with renewable technologies.
“Renewables have a twofold importance for colleges and universities that are looking to improve their sustainability and expose students to careers in alternative energy,” said Mark Huston, managing director of retail energy, Constellation Energy. “We are proud to have developed this project with the University of Toledo and look forward to years of clean energy production as well as years of inspiration for a generation of students that will embark on green careers.”
“The creation and production of clean, renewable energy sources is vital to the way we power our world. That’s why The University of Toledo created the Scott Park Campus of Energy and Innovation,” UT President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs said. “Our relationship with Constellation Energy for the solar and wind electric generation systems on that campus will help students and researchers advance the technology that will power our future.”
The project utilizes thin-film-on-glass photovoltaic solar technology that was originally developed based on research at the University of Toledo. Constellation Energy’s Projects & Services Group also installed a 132-foot wind turbine at the site. Together, the solar and wind systems are expected annually to generate power equivalent to the amount of electricity used by 140 homes in a year. Generating that same amount of electricity using non-renewable sources would result in the release of more than 1,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and the equivalent of the emissions from 200 passenger vehicles annually.
Constellation Energy finances, designs, constructs and owns these solar installations and supplies power generated on-site to the customer over a period of 15 to 20 years. This creates an attractive and affordable model that requires no upfront capital from customers, such as The University of Toledo, and reduces customers’ use of power from the electrical grid and associated carbon emissions. Constellation Energy’s Projects & Services Group has developed a number of renewable energy projects for universities throughout the U.S., including a 17.1 megawatt system under development on the grounds of Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., that will be one of the largest solar installations in the U.S. when completed.
Constellation Energy currently has approximately 25 megawatts of on-site solar projects completed or under development throughout the U.S., and announced last month that it has set aside $90 million to fund the development of similar solar installations in 2010. Qualifying projects of 500 kilowatts generally require at least 100,000 square feet of roof space or two acres of open ground. Colleges and universities and other commercial customers interested in developing solar projects can contact Constellation Energy at Sustainable-Solutions@constellation.com or 1-877-427-2005.
Constellation Energy’s Projects & Services Group utilized the design and build services of Advanced Distribution Generation (ADG) LLC of Northwest Ohio for the project. Plug Smart Solutions consulted and managed the project for the University of Toledo. Solar panels were supplied by First Solar, and photovoltaic inverters were supplied by PV Powered. The wind turbine was manufactured by Wind Energy Solutions (WES) of Holland.
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About Constellation Energy
Constellation Energy (www.constellation.com) is a leading supplier of energy products and services to wholesale and retail electric and natural gas customers. It owns a diversified fleet of generating units located in the United States and Canada, totaling approximately 7,100 megawatts of generating capacity, and is among the leaders pursuing the development of new nuclear plants in the United States. The company delivers electricity and natural gas through the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), its regulated utility in Central Maryland. A FORTUNE 500 company headquartered in Baltimore, Constellation Energy had revenues of $15.6 billion in 2009.?
SunEdison to Build 50MW of PV Solar for Xcel in New Mexico
SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR), and Xcel Energy’s (NYSE: XEL) regional operating company, Southwestern Public Service Company, announced a deal for five photovoltaic solar installations in New Mexico that will total 50 megawatts (MW) in generation capacity.
The five 10MW sites, to be located in Lea and Eddy counties in southeastern New Mexico, will comprise a utility-scale, ground-mount system that will be fully operational by the end of 2011. In total, the installations will generate enough power for more than 10,000 homes in its first full year of operation.
This total project will enable Xcel Energy to continue meeting New Mexico’s renewable portfolio standard, which requires that regulated electric utilities meet 15% of their electricity needs by 2015, and 20% by 2020, through renewable energy sources.
The five installations will be built, financed and maintained by SunEdison, under a 20-year solar power services agreement (SPSA) with Xcel Energy, which will buy the solar power generated by the plant.
This project eclipses the 8.22MW (DC) solar power system SunEdison activated for Xcel Energy in Alamosa, Colorado in December 2007.
SunEdison finances, installs and operates distributed power plants using proven photovoltaic technologies, delivering fully managed, predictably priced solar energy services for its commercial, government and utility customers.
Solar wafer maker MEMC acquired SunEdison in October 2009.
New York plugs in first electric car solar charging station
Off grid charging station to allow New York firm to recharge electric car using solar power
By Tom Young, BusinessGreen.com
Sustainable energy company Beautiful Earth Group has this week unveiled New York’s first solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station, which will allow the firm to recharge its electric MINI E using zero carbon energy making it one of the few cars in the world to run exclusively on solar power.
The off-grid station features solar photovoltaic panels and has been built using recycled, decommissioned steel shipping containers.
“It never ceases to amaze me, when I get behind the wheel of this 95 mph sports car, that it doesn’t use a single drop of gasoline, and that all of its power comes from the solar energy we collect right here on the Brooklyn waterfront,” said Beautiful Earth’s president and chief executive Lex Heslin.
The company said that the charging station has a capacity of about six kilowatts and will also produce enough energy to power a small home. It added that an integrated battery bank will stores electricity and ensure that the system can provide power 24 hours a day.
The move comes in the same week as London Mayor Boris Johnson announced plans to install 25,000 electric car recharging points across the UK capital, including 22,500 charging points at workplaces.
The Green Rush Is On In China
by Louisa Lim, NPR.org
A new gold rush in China is actually a green rush — an urgent drive to develop green technologies. One group of Western companies, the Cleantech Initiative, suggests China’s market for renewable energy could eventually be worth as much as $500 billion to $1 trillion a year.
Now, Obama administration officials are warning that the U.S. could risk losing the race in green technologies.
“The future of sustainable energy is here.” The words are emblazoned on a wall at the world’s largest nongovernmental solar research center. It was built by an American company, Applied Materials, in the central Chinese city of Xian.
The cost of solar panels has dropped dramatically — 30 percent in the past year alone. One major reason is the “China price,” or the competitive advantages offered by Chinese manufacturing, with its cheap labor and economies of scale. China is now the world’s biggest producer of photovoltaic solar panels, making about 40 percent of all panels, according to the China Daily, mostly for export.
At Applied Materials’ $250 million research center in Xian, Elizabeth Mayo, a process engineer from Santa Clara, Calif., is working with local staff testing solar panels in the Sunfab panel reliability test lab. This simulates extreme weather conditions, and the company boasts that it is the world’s only laboratory capable of testing 61-square-feet solar panels.
Mayo is impressed by the facilities in Xian. “We don’t have facilities like this in the U.S. We don’t have anything of this magnitude,” Mayo says.
Catrina Ren, an enthusiastic English-speaking engineer, beams while showing a visitor another facility at the research center: vast empty hangars waiting for new pilot lines for crystalline silicon, and thin film solar technology to be installed. “I’m very proud I have chance to work here,” she says. “This is most advantaged tech center in world. I graduated from university only two years ago. I’m very proud.”
And Applied Materials is no doubt overjoyed to have Catrina and her former classmates on staff. Costs in China are much cheaper than in the U.S. An engineering graduate in Xian earns one-tenth of her American counterparts.
And the biggest draw is the eternal lure of China’s fabled market. Gang Zhou, general manager of Applied Materials Xian facility, says the company has decided to put its money where its customer base is.
“China is No. 1 producer of solar panels. That’s where our market is. The China new R&D center, that’s where we validate a lot of R&D work that is being carried out in U.S. and in Europe,” he says.
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Largest solar panel plant in US rises in Florida
By Christine Armario, Associated Press Writer (from Yahoo.com)
ARCADIA, Fla. – Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future of Florida’s renewable energy plans begin: Acres of open land filled with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business.
For nearly a year, construction workers and engineers in this sleepy Florida town of citrus trees and cattle farms have been building the nation’s largest solar panel energy plant. Testing will soon be complete, and the facility will begin directly converting sunlight into energy, giving Florida a momentary spot in the solar energy limelight.
The Desoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center will power a small fraction of Florida Power & Light’s 4-million plus customer base; nevertheless, at 25 megawatts, it will generate nearly twice as much energy as the second-largest photovoltaic facility in the U.S.
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New solar energy product could revolutionize industry
From CoolerPlanet.com
A newly announced development from Dow Chemical may change the solar energy industry for homeowners in the coming years.
Dow’s new Powerhouse solar shingle is said to incorporate photovoltaic technology into a roof shingle, potentially allowing people to use their entire rooftop to generate electricity at a reasonable cost. According to the company, the new shingles will be on the market in limited quantities next year, becoming more widely available in 2011.
“These types of innovative products not only showcase our deep scientific and technical expertise but also demonstrate how our commitment to R&D is fueling Dow’s future growth agenda around the world,” said company chairman Andrew Liveris.
The news was also hailed by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm because of the green manufacturing jobs the new product is expected to bring to the state, which has it headquarters in the city of Midland.
The technology is said to involve thin film technologies that have been growing more common throughout the industry. In the coming years, thin film technology may provide advanced new applications for solar energy technology, such as wrapping or printing solar generating material onto a variety of surfaces.
First Solar and China to Partner on Gigantic Solar Power Plant
By Yael Borofsky, CleanTechnica.com
On Tuesday, the announcement that U.S.-based First Solar and the Chinese government will partner to build a 2GW photovoltaic (PV) power plant Ordos New Energy Demonstration Zone in China, sent shockwaves of excitement through the solar and clean energy communities.
The memorandum of understanding, which both companies signed on Tuesday, sets the stage for the construction of the world’s largest PV power plant to be completed by 2019.
According to the New York Times the plant is part of a planned 11,950-megawatt renewable-energy park slated for this region of Mongolia, that “would generate enough electricity to power about three million Chinese homes.”
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