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In an attempt to meld art, science, economics, and politics this morning (whew!), I thought you all might find this illustration of energy scales… well, illuminating. I’ve circled in green the amount of solar energy hitting the earth in one day, annual U.S. electricity consumption, and a single kilowatt hour of electricity. Since an average American household uses 900 kilowatt hours per month, you might begin to get a sense of how much energy this is in the much grander scale of things.
The amount of solar energy penetrating the planet in one day eclipses the total amount of electricity the U.S. consumes every year by TWO orders of magnitude. Just think, now that you know what $68 Billion dollars worth of concentrating solar energy can buy us, imagine what we could do with just a fraction of the $900 Billion we’re about to spend on our “stimulus” plan. We could easily harvest enough energy with that money to account for all of our annual electricity usage!
We have a new president. What’s that going to mean for the solar industry? Time will tell, but all signs point to “awesome.”
For starters, the skids were greased before inauguration day. The surprising extension of the Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for solar energy appended to the financial bailout bill was slated to disappear, but instead was extended eight years. Moreover, the $2000 cap for residential solar installations was removed.
This is a long enough runway for national renewable energy companies to build infrastructure around. However, in the short term there’s not a lot of hunger for tax breaks. Groups like votesolar.org are pushing to make the ITC refundable so more people can use it now. Banks who provide tax equity solutions for big solar projects have turned the faucet off.
The Obama stimulus package earmarks $30B for upgrading grid infrastructure. There are a lot of solar farm possibilities that don’t currently make sense because our medieval grid can’t get that energy to where it needs to go. Texas has taken the infrastructure lead, other states need to start planning for enhanced transmission lines.
Obama might also enact cap and trade legislation by the end of the year. Solar would be a way for companies to avoid penalties, increasing their already compelling incentives to solar up their buildings. Solar in California will likely grow because of California’s AB32 (which caps emissions from power stations, industry and oil refineries starting in 2012) and there is a good chance a cap-and-trade system under Obama could be modeled after AB32.
New renewable portfolio standards (RPS) could also put a lot of pressure on states and municipalities to get their renewable programs in gear. RPS require local energy providers to derive a certain amount of their energy from renewable sources. States like Pennsylvania, California, Virgina, Colorado, and Oregon have very progressive standards. Others may be required to jump on board under this administration.
Obama will create a tide that lifts all ships in renewable energy, but I will be interested to see the attention that distributed solar gets comparatively. Ultimately though, he needs pressure from below to see to it that progressive legislation sees the desks of all legislators. Not just liberal democrats who see few oil lobby dollars.
This might possibly be a good thing. Why? Well, if this story gets some media attention, perhaps other states may cite this as reason to enhance funding levels for renewable energy rebates so as not to fall into the same boat. Let’s hope the Connecticut legislature continues to foster an industry that has added thousands of green jobs in the state. More from RedGreenandBlue.com:
Until now, Connecticut’s solar rebate program was one of the better run and most generous in the United States. Since 2005, more than $85 million has been doled out for 815 residential solar projects and 127 business and government projects. One might argue that the size of Connecticut’s solar rebate fund pales in comparison to the actual demand for solar installs statewide.
The “problem” is that the current funding cycle runs from July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2010, but a 300 percent growth in purchases of residential systems for the second half of 2008 used up the entire $8.5 million. Because the commercial program is likely to exhaust its two-year allotment of more than $18 million this spring, state officials have announced that they are no longer accepting applications for the solar rebate program, despite having originally thought they could accept new applications through January 15th.
Industry groups are concerned that unless money is injected into the program, the momentum built up over its four-year life will be lost, taking a bite out of the dozens of companies and hundreds of jobs it created.
“We don’t want to be in position to put together all this wonderful momentum and then tell them we can’t sustain them: ‘Go away,’” Michael Trahan, executive director of Solar Connecticut told the New York Times “That’s a serious hiccup that will take years to fix.”
But Connecticut’s clean energy fund has not entirely dried up, only the nifty cash-back rebate part of it has. There is still funding available as part of the Connecticut Solar Lease program. Now, I know, leasing is not the same as owning and may not be for everyone. But the no-money-down solar leases can obviously be more economically viable for people who could not otherwise stomach the substantial up-front cost of buying and installing a solar PV system – if there are such people in Connecticut.
