Top 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins

In the wake of Solyndra and the distorted information that has been publicizes, RMI, as always provided solid information (It's worth the time to explore their site.):

Top 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins
On Solyndra, silver bullets, and solar buckshot
Doug Payne
Guest Contributor, Solar Tech

By now the financial, political, and emotional fallout from the recent Solyndra bankruptcy filing is running at full tilt. Print, online, and social media channels are filled with the appropriate questions about what happened -- who’s responsible, who’s accountable, and who’s going to pay for it? Incumbent energy providers, including coal and oil, along with many politicians are cynically rushing to tout this event as the beginning of the end for renewable energy, while others see Solyndra’s collapse as merely a singular event that is part of an inevitable macro-trend toward a 21st century clean economy.

However, in reality, Solyndra was not the entire solar industry. It was just a manufacturer and supplier to the industry. Citing Solyndra as a grave indicator of the end of the solar industry is like noting that the demise of Goodyear would end the auto industry. As long as solar makes economic sense; systems will continue to be deployed.

So how about we all take a breath, step back, and look at what’s happening in the bigger picture that is the global energy business.

There are no silver solar bullets to America’s energy needs -- but there is solar buckshot.

Solar Buckshot, aka Top 10 Reasons Why Solar Energy Will Win


10. A job is a job is a job.

With all this talk about green jobs, clean jobs, and other kinds of jobs -- how about we just call it a job? A job that puts food on the table, pays the bills, keeps the kids in clothes, and affords the occasional family night out. And, if you subscribe to the belief that all is lost due to the Chinese PV manufacturing juggernaut, keep in mind that you can’t export the thousands of business development, sales, design, engineering, installation, and service jobs we’re going to need every year.

But opinion only matters if the data supports it. Solar is one of the only industries adding private sector jobs in our struggling economy -- with 6.8 percent growth from August 2010 to August 2011, when overall U.S. job growth was only 0.7 percent and when fossil fuel generators actually cut jobs by 2 percent. It’s estimated the United States already has over 90,000 direct and indirect jobs in the manufacturing and installation of solar panels. That’s more than in either steel production or coal mining (not including transportation and power plant employment).

9. Fastest growing sector of the economy.

Growth is a good for everyone. U.S. solar photovoltaic installation increased by an impressive average annual rate of 64 percent between 2005 and 2010, with over 70 percent of the value of solar products and installations produced here at home. Solar is already up and delivering in 21 states, representing two-thirds of America's population.


8. The voters are ahead of the politicians and the media.

Despite what you hear from political ideologues and read about in the news, Americans want more homegrown, renewable, clean energy. They want it not only because it will make the air they breathe cleaner, but because they know that competition for their money is a good thing and that economic growth will come with the continued growth of a homegrown industry. Americans are also tired of borrowing money from China to pay for energy we import from many countries that are not our friends.

7. It is about prices.

Solar energy is already affordable in many states and cities. A new report by Lawrence Berkeley Labs (LBL) shows how rapidly solar prices are falling. In its analysis, LBL shows that the average cost of installed solar photovoltaic was $6.20/watt for systems installed in 2010, falling 17 percent from 2009 and 43 percent below 1998. Prices fell an additional 11 percent from 2010 to the first half of 2011. Since 2008, panel prices alone have declined 61 percent, with 30 percent of this reduction happening this year. Large commercial rooftops systems are now being installed for less than $3 per watt DC -- approaching the SunShot goals set by DOE only this year.

So in case you’ve missed it, “solar past does not equal solar present.” Solar is rapidly reaching the point where it competes with traditional energy on price -- even without the kind of taxpayer subsidies that coal and natural gas have received for decades.

6. Follow the (private) money.

Even in a struggling economy, the clean energy industry drew a record $7.8 billion in venture capital worldwide in 2010, a 28 percent increase compared to 2009. Seventy percent of that world total was invested right here in North America. Solar alone received more than 30 percent of U.S. clean tech venture capital in the first quarter of 2011, indicating a maturing industry that is expected to continue growing.

5. Existing policies will make solar energy affordable for millions Americans by 2015.

As Emperor Hadrian of Rome said, “Brick by brick, my citizens, brick by brick.” In seven years, the solar industry has come a long way very quickly. Forty-three states have adopted a net-metering policy, which simply means that utilities don’t have to replace their antiquated software and hardware to accommodate homes and businesses that produce extra power they loan to the grid during peak times of the day. Consumers (homes and businesses) make money for every bit of excess solar production that they don’t use themselves. Instead, their utility buys it at the full retail rate. The small business owner, school, or family gets to pocket the difference.

4. A truly competitive free market favors solar over the oil and coal welfare queens.

Solar and other renewables will succeed, despite a national energy playing field tilted towards the oil, gas, and coal industries, which continue to benefit from 70 years of embedded incentives, subsidies, and deductions worth $20 billion a year. In other words, we are paying these guys twice -- once at the pump and electric meter and again when we pay our taxes. The single biggest energy subsidy, worth some $2.2 billion per year, goes to the oil industry -- and doesn’t even support domestic production.

Don’t blame roustabouts, roughnecks, and drillers. It’s not their fault. But if you ask a senior oil and gas company executive, CFO, or Director if they’re willing to give up these incentives and compete on a level playing field in a truly competitive, open market, what do you think they would they say? How about we find out? On the other hand, the solar industry has already declared that they will allow their 30 percent tax credit to expire in 2016 -- pretty generous, huh?

3. Our military loves it.

Our soldiers and sailors already know. The Department of Defense's clean energy investments increased 300 percent between 2006 and 2009, from $400 million to $1.2 billion, and they are projected to eclipse $10 billion annually by 2030. Why? Because sun and wind -- not gas stations -- can be found deep in the Afghani mountains, in the Iraqi desert, and on the high seas. When combined with brilliant new battery technologies that store energy when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining, our military has the energy and fuel it needs wherever it goes -- rather than waiting for huge, vulnerable tanker convoys.

2 . Solar in a box.

That’s right, folks. We love solar because homes and businesses will soon be winning on price and quality through simple, affordable “solar-in-a-box” deliveries right to your home. These mass produced, “air conditioner/satellite dish/water heater” installations could be producing the equivalent of one nuclear power plant to the grid per year.

1. Solar will win because we love our nuclear power plant: the one, the only, the original…93 million miles away.

These are just ten reasons why renewable energy will win -- and why historians and economists will record Solyndra’s failure as merely a footnote in the story of our transformation from dirty, often imported, fossil fuel energy to cleaner, homegrown renewable energy.

*** This article is a joint effort of the solar industry supergroup of:


Doug Payne--Co-Founder / Executive Director
SolarTech Donnie Fowler--CEO, Dogpatch Strategies
Danny Kennedy--Founder / President,Sungevity
Ned Harvey--COO, Rocky Mountain Institute SolarTech Board member
Tom McCalmont--CEO McCalmont Engineering, Co-Founder/Board Chair SolarTech
Jigar Shah--Founder SunEdison, CEO Carbon War Room

Originally published on Greentechmedia.com




Transforming the Solar Market:





With all the talk about Solyndra’s bankruptcy, the message that the solar industry is struggling to effectively compete at scale with cheaper electricity sources such as coal is being made loud and clear.

So while solar photovoltaic module costs have decreased significantly in the past decade, high installation costs caused by a complex tangle of utility interconnection requirements, financing expectations and permitting codes is a big reason why installed solar PV remains an expensive energy option.

“Ultimately, we found all the processes required to get a system approved and installed were not being addressed by anyone,” said Ned Harvey, Rocky Mountain Institute’s chief operating officer. “We quickly gained a lot of traction with our research and found that, while the hardware cost is going down very fast the process costs are actually going up.”

What’s Lighting Up the Web: Solyndra
Ben Holland

The recent bankruptcy of Solyndra Energy resulted in a media frenzy that directed considerable attention and scrutiny to the clean energy industry. The failure of this solar company has been called a “black eye” for the renewable energy industry, the end of green jobs, and as David Roberts of Grist warned, a climategate-level mess.

A mess, yes, but not because it signals the collapse of the renewables industry. The Solyndra debacle has resulted in a mixed messages and misinformation, obscuring reality: the solar energy is making tremendous strides.

What killed Solyndra?
There are several factors that contributed to Solyndra’s bankruptcy, but one in particular can be perceived as a positive turn of events—falling module prices. Ironically, one could argue it was the explosion of the solar industry that played a big role in Solyndra’s demise.

Back in 2005, Solyndra offered a unique system design, one that did not rely on polysilicon, the primary material for the traditional crystalline solar module. At the time, this business model had strong potential for competing in a market hampered by high costs of polysilicon. Instead, the thin film product used copper indium gallium diselenide, and, by applying the thin film to a cylindrical design, the modules could be easily installed for maximum exposure to the sun. The novel approach initially attracted many investors.

But then the price of polysilicon nosedived due to a combination of increased demand for and production of crystalline silcon solar modules. Between the period when Solyndra applied for and was awarded the loan guarantee (December 2006-June 2009), the price of polysilicon went from about $300/kg to $460/kg—then plummeted below $60/kg. It has remained around $70/kg since.

To be fair, the failure of Solyndra cannot be entirely blamed on these prices. However, it most certainly had an impact on the advantages of its technology. The market, not the government, had already chosen a winner. In a September 9th memorandum, the Congressional Research Service echoed this sentiment:


The solar market has essentially become commoditized. Solar PV firms that have proven technology, can warranty their products, and have enough operational performance to satisfy financial risk concerns of dept and equity finance provider will be acceptable solutions for solar PV projects. Competition therefore will likely be based on either module prices or electricity costs. Solyndra’s technology is relatively new with limited operational performance history.

Solar Power: Clear Skies or Clouds?
Solyndra is just one of many solar companies, so it’s a stretch to suggest they’re emblematic of an entire industry (check out this great infographic—Solyndra vs. the solar industry). In truth, the solar industry is demonstrating improved strength and growth—two words that aren’t frequently used to describe today’s economy. In the last six years, solar photovoltaic installations increased by an average of 64 percent. And in just over a year (August 2010 to August 2011), the industry saw a 6.8 percent growth in private sector jobs. All this while U.S. job growth languished at 0.7 percent.

This is positive news, but the solar industry still has ground to cover. Although prices continue to fall, solar must reach an even more competitive price while demonstrating additional benefits.

“I think the most important lesson is that, for the solar industry to survive and to flourish, it’s absolutely essential that the industry provide a product that has market demand,” said Ned Harvey, Rocky Mountain Institute’s Chief Operating Officer. We’ve got to identify some other mechanisms that benefit what solar can provide to consumers and utilities. Price is always going to be important, but we’ve really got to understand the impact of price on both supply and demand”

Poised for Take-Off
The solar industry is on the cusp of even greater success. Betting the future of an entire industry on the failure of one company is at best foolish and at worst dangerous. The growth of this industry is good for jobs and it’s good for American competitiveness.

“If we want to capture the benefits in our country,” Harvey said, “if we want the U.S. to be a leading player in clean tech and clean energy, it’s going to take investments and they’re not all going to pay off.”