Solar in America: Why Are We Celebrating?

Joe Boyce, Gaia Worldwide
April 13, 2011 | 17 Comments

For the past 6 years I've been following the development of the solar industry, particularly PV, in the United States. While I'm inspired by some of the ideas and innovations I'm seeing, such as the emergence of solar leasing, the Federal ITC and Loan Guarantees, and the continuing reductions overall cost of solar panels and complete solar systems, I'm still not satisfied, and frankly a little disappointed with our progress to date. Why are our most visible industry champions so happy these days?

I’m writing this while sitting at a Starbucks in Davis Square in Somerville Massachusetts outside of Boston, taking an occasional moment to gaze out the window at the passersby on this beautiful warm sunny day, one of the first of the year after a brutal winter.

There’s lots of great energy here; young entrepreneurs working on business plans and talking over deals, students hard at work learning about science and technology, and generally expanding their minds to meet the challenges of the day. It’s a beautiful thing. So much advancement is happening already and there’s bound to be more to come given the brain power and inspiration in the energy sector. Great things are sure to keep coming.

Still as I write this, I can’t help but feel disappointed. Earlier today I watched a replay of Rhone Resch’s keynote speech at the PV America Conference last week, the tone of which was strikingly upbeat, with a celebratory tone throughout. In short, more of the same message that we’ve heard from SEIA in each of the past six years.

The highlights of the speech were all about the growth of solar in the US: 102% growth in 2010 installations, to 878 MW, almost 100% growth in cell and module manufacturing, as well as the finding that 74% of the value of a domestic solar installation remains in the US, even if Chinese solar panels and other foreign solar equipment is used.

Great news for solar and for the American economy, right? Not necessarily.

While triple-digit growth in any industry is nothing to sneeze at, I don’t think it’s time to act like we’ve won anything.

While the US economy grew at a mediocre 2.9% last year, solar was flying high. In fact it’s been mentioned that PV is the fastest growing industry in America right now. Then why then can’t we accomplish what any functional industry would?

While a number of states have crafted good solar policies, we still don’t have major influence at the federal, state, and municipal levels. And the hot-button issues associated with cutting state budgets in 2011 may leave many solar programs out in the cold.

We like to think that solar is becoming mainstream, but every day I meet people who don’t know what solar is. “Does it work?” they ask. I live in a progressive, highly educated area of the Northeast, with strong support for the cleantech industries; this is more tragic than grounds for celebration.

Perhaps the biggest tragedy is the lack of renewed political attention to solar after the energy disasters of 2010/2011.

We saw the largest oil spill in US history; a coal mine collapse that killed 29 and made public numerous safety violations; and today we face the fallout of a nuclear meltdown that has contaminated food and water supplies, and displaced hundreds of families. Of course, such disasters are forgotten about shortly after they happen. Until they happen again.

Still, BP and Massey Energy’s stock valuations are already fully recovered. In fact, Massey is on quite a tear of late. Deep water drilling in the gulf is back online and we’ve heard almost nothing of the 4,600 mine safety violations uncovered since the US stepped up investigations after the Massey disaster. Add to this the “sudden” finding that natural gas fracking has been poisoning water and food supplies, and you’d expect to see solar on a stratospheric growth curve.

So why are we patting ourselves on the back right now?

This is our time to push harder than we ever have, both politically and in raising public awareness and support. I know that SEIA has done an enormous amount of valuable work on the national level, but congratulating ourselves at this moment is the wrong tactic. I believe we need to be humble about where we stand.

As winter turns to spring, optimism becomes more palpable. But here in Davis Square the sun is shining bright on black tar roofs -- not solar PV or solar hot water panels – so there’s nothing to celebrate yet.

Keep pushing, keep innovating, and let’s postpone the celebration for when we truly deserve it.

To see Rhone Resch's PV America speech, watch the video below.

17 Comments

RMichael Curran
April 19, 2011

Buck - In Ohio renewable energy equipment is also exempt from personal property tax:

"The changes to the tax code in SB 232:
1. Exempt permanently from the tangible personal property tax and the real property tax any project of with a nameplate capacity of 250 kw or less;"

See http://www.bricker.com/documents/publications/1929.pdf

Mahmoud Emera
April 15, 2011

Regarding the Solar Energy in general I want comment on the following two points on cost and usage bases:-
- Solar Thermal approach like tower structures is suitable from point of view of generated wattage and area needed for installations, but is very costly and depends on governmental decisions.

- PV approach is still costly from point of view of needed installation area to get large scale wattage that fits the commercial and grid applications.
On the other hand, it will be more feasible if used for small scale retail applications in case if the cells manufacturers succeeded to go down with the per-meter cell unit price to enable competition with the regular electicity per-KW cost, which is till far from PV cost in most of countries world-wide, specially the developing ones who have most of the sun irradiation.

Luke Divemaster
April 15, 2011

Cover parking lots at malls, businesses, schools, etc. with solar canopies. This would provide electricity for the buildings and could charge electric vehicles. Canopies would provide shade, reducing heat capture to black surfaced lots and the reemittance of heat into the local environment. This would be high profile advertising with an opportunity to show writ large on signs the energy cost savings and CO2 reduction benefit.

BUCK SHAW
April 15, 2011

@Solarsaves;

Great project. In the San Francisco Bay area. It would take at least. Two months to apply for the permit to build. Then you need to pay to submit the plans for review. That takes another month. While the zoning committee looks it over, fee for that. Local review of the housing committee (non elected positions for life) fee imposed also. Design Review Committee approval needed. Inspection fee's. And of course Building Permit Fee.
Then the Tax Assessor will reassess the new value of you house with the addition. And the Taxes won't go down thats for sure.
Yes. RE is wonderful But Not In My Back Yard.
We speak with Forked Tounge out here. Unless there is 10 tons of Red Tape and agonizing butt kissing to the local committees. You are better off back east when it comes to RE. They seem much more friendly and "Show Me" towards RE.

Jose Soto
April 15, 2011

This is still a baby industry wathching the common daily accidents in our planet.
The World Leaders will just keep changing Pampers.
I hope there still be a planet for it to grow.
J.Soto
Advanced Renewable Products
Puerto Rico

William Fitch
April 14, 2011

Hi:

No the current Japan accident hasn't killed hundreds, but it will in the long run end up killing thousands and compromising the health of thousands and thousands more, much like smoking does. Except for the workers inside, they will pass on much faster...

.....Bill

James Desmond
April 14, 2011

On 10/2/10, I put up a 10KW system in Central Georgia for $14,000 after 65% Fed/State tax credits (hence, $35,000 unsubsidized). Check it out: https://picasaweb.google.com/StoryBookProperties/55KWHDayANewRecord

It's performing as promised, making/saving me about $1000/year, so a 14-year payback cycle.

Still, after much study, I conclude that subsidies HARM Solar PV, as do government fiats like RPS's, FITs, and other unfunded mandates). Here's why: http://sites.google.com/site/freemarketsolarpower/

Athena Christodoulou
April 14, 2011

Solar has possibly fallen into the chasm that many new high tech products encounter. It has not reached the mainstream, just those who are open to new innovations normally. It needs to focus on a niche...how about grocery stores! They use a lot of electricity and generally own the building they use.
Education is key. People still have the image of PV as being expensive, high maintenance, and complicated!

Joe Boyce
April 13, 2011

@AltEBen Ben, I'd be happy to exchange hi-fives as soon as we hit the point of matching our consumption with our renewable production. If we use about 25% of the worlds energy, it's only right that we produce 25% of it's renewable energy. When that happens we've created a monster in renewables, with or without subsidies.

Joe Boyce
April 13, 2011

@solarsaves You make an excellent point here. Solar hot air and water are excellent options that can be easily adopted by users in all areas of the country and provide a compelling return on investment. As a "Mainer" I'm sure you have a lot of people who feel that there just isn't enough sunlight to make the economics work, which you've proven not to be the case. Still, when people think of solar now, they tend to think of PV, and if that's what compels them to inquire about solar, or go about learning more, I'm all for it.

Regardless of what type of energy it is, when individuals start to see the reality that they can own their own generation assets and control what kind of energy they use and how much they pay for it, others will follow and there will be no going back to the old, inefficient transmission infrastructure.

It all starts with one person deciding to make the move rather than just talking about it. One Solar Roof that creates a ripple effect around the neighborhood, and ultimately around the country. Thanks for the comment.

Pamela Cargill
April 13, 2011

I like hearing a perspective from a Yankee. In solar in the U.S., we are too often only hearing voices and perspective from California or DC.

While I can sympathize with the author's gripes, that solar isn't far enough along- so why celebrate- I think before commenters lay in too hard on the author... let's just take a moment to realize what we are up against.

When Shayle Kann of GTM Research stands up in front of a crowd and delivers the toplevel findings from SEIA/GTM Research joint report 2010 U.S. Solar Market Insight, he always ends the exciting presentation with a critical perspective: he shows a bar graph with dozens of multi-GW individual power plants stacked up against the entire 878MW of solar installed in the US in 2010.

That being said, it is critical to uphold morale within our industry. We need to give ourselves permission to celebrate our gains, but not rest on our laurels. Ten years ago, this was a cottage industry. We are much further along and there is still a long road ahead.

There is a lot of uncertainty about whether or not there will ever be a national energy policy or plan. Let's keep the pressure on and encourage morale-boosting within the industry. Disheartened troops will refuse to fight.

Emil Spatny
April 13, 2011

If you want PV to flourish in the US, replace all the tax credits(federal and state) that one must go through hoops to obtain and simply replace them with grants. Out of pocket expenses for homeowners would be so low you could not afford NOT to have a PV system.

B Sturgis
April 13, 2011

Like you, I've been following the solar industry for over 6 years. In fact, I've been researching, taking training classes for certifications in solar thermal and PV. I designed and built three solar hot air panels using aluminum dryer duct and aluminum flashing - (coated in Solkote), ductboard insulation, caulking, plywood and solar glazing. Installed them in an enclosure on my roof and have an ROI of less than 3 years! Much faster payback than hot water or PV. They have reduced my heating oil usage by over 400 gallons per year (here in Maine) and should do so for many years to come. I also teach adult ed classes to teach others about solar technologies and building hot air panels. I've found little interest in solar, because most people only think of solar PV and how it costs tens of thousands of dollars. You don't even mention solar hot air, yet it is the cheapest to install and provides the best Return On Investment of all solar technologies. Besides subsidies, what is needed is public education about all forms of solar technologies. Even though Solar has been around for decades, it is like a new product category and people need to be educated about the various technologies and how they can be used - and what they actually cost (along with potential savings). I tell people to start with Solar Hot Air, then with the savings from that, in a few years install Hot Water, then in another few years, PV will be more affordable. Solar technologies is the one energy source that individuals can utilize to reduce their fossil fuel consumption and their expenses, without waiting for the energy industry to do the work...
We all need to spread the word about all Solar Technologies, not just the sexy one (i.e. electricity). Remember, Solar Saves! Pass the word!

REW.com Editors
April 13, 2011

grysovcob -- somehow, we missed that assertion that the nuclear accident has "killed hundreds" when reviewing the story. It has since been removed.

Ben Farmer
April 13, 2011

Very well said Joe. Until the Solar Industry gets the same subsidies as Oil and Gas, and until renewable production is at 50%, let's not celebrate. Let's use the momentum we have to push even harder because let's face it we're nowhere near the evolved energy society we should be.

Jeffrey Hausaman
April 13, 2011

"today we face the fallout of a nuclear meltdown that has killed hundreds, contaminated food and water supplies, and displaced hundreds of families"

I would like to see evidence that fallout from Fukushima has killed "hundreds". Thus far, all credible analysis of the situation has shown that there have been no deaths due to the radiation exposure. The only people who have died so far on the site have been the result of the earthquake and tsunami. The situation is in fact very serious, and requires a lot of effort and response to recover from, however to say that this is a highly deadly accident the same way that the BP accident and Massey collapse were, is false.

Thomas M
April 13, 2011

Joe, as you were gazing out from Starbuck's at the passerby's on that nice sunny day, after a harsh winter, did you stop to think if any of those passerby's had any realization of how solar energy was affecting them on that particular day? How many of them realize that the daylight around them came from an energy source far, far away. Did the people sitting, looking up to the sun to get warm, understand where the heat was coming from? Probably not. They were too busy being caught up and brainwashed in society and it's teaching and ways.
What we need is more education, more working examples and more truth instead of propaganda. You're right, we do not need a pat on the back, we need to give others a boot in the ....

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Joe Boyce

Recognized as a leader and innovator in renewable energy sales and marketing, Boyce has set out to bring solar into the mainstream. Using cutting edge strategies proven by the most successful global industries and businesses. Starting in...