News and Updates: Solar Power Legislation, Incentives and Products

Christina Rogers / The Detroit News

Ford Motor Co. will build one of the largest solar energy systems in the state at its Wayne assembly plant to help power manufacturing of its electric cars, including the all-new electric Ford Focus, company officials said today.

The project is a partnership with Detroit-based DTE Energy — the state’s largest utility — and Xtreme Power, an Austin-based energy solutions firm.

Ford will install 500-kilowatts of solar panels at the Wayne plant, along with a battery storage facility that can store 2 million watt-hours of energy, enough to power 100 homes for a year, the company said.

Energy generated by the system will power production lines for the Ford Focus and Focus Electric, along with other hybrid-electric vehicles.

The Dearborn automaker expects to save about $160,000 a year in energy costs.

By Liz Merry SOLAR TODAY “Ask Ms. Liz” Columnist

I was asked in my current Industry Orientation class why the solar industry is thriving in some places and anemic in others. My answer: To have a successful grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) market, you need basic policies in place. Because we have different policies in different states, and often in different utility areas, we essentially have about 55 different solar markets to deal with. Even more if you count different types of utilities.

However, Congress, yet again, has postponed national energy legislation, even though uniform pro-solar policies are vitally important for our collective clean energy future. When (or if) they do get to work on it, the legislation should contain some of the following elements that have proven key to creating a successful solar market.

First, you need a simple and realistic interconnection agreement. While many utilities claim to allow interconnection, there are often poison pills in place that effectively prevent a solar market. Such barriers include caps on the size of the system to be interconnected, caps on the cumulative amount of PV allowed on the utility grid, irrational insurance and/or equipment requirements or long, complicated interconnection agreements that require a lawyer’s review before submission.

Second, you need electricity to cost more than 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. The closer local electricity rates get to 20 cents per kilowatt-hour, on average, the more sound the economics of a PV project become. To reach these electricity rates and create a sustainable business model, utilities need to price electricity based on consumption. By charging premiums on those who large amounts of electricity, utilities encourage conservation, they also minimize the need for inefficient peak-load power plants, which often use natural gas to meet peak demand periods a few times a year.

Third, you need consistent, long-term incentives. Electricity is so inexpensive because the United States heavily subsidizes fossil fuel-based electricity providers through tax credits that have been in use for decades. (See this report by the Environmental Law Institute: elistore.org/Data/products/d19_07.pdf.) Renewable technologies are just becoming standardized, so the solar industry still needs incentives in the form of rebates and tax credits. The solar and wind industry would be satisfied with the size and types of consistent long-term subsidies being distributed to the fossil fuel industry. Instead, financial incentives for solar and other renewables are intermittent and short-lived, coming and going with each new election.

Fourth, the utility needs to provide retail net metering. As with interconnection policies, the devil is in the details. Retail net metering means that, when a PV system generates excess electricity and feeds it back to the grid, the system’s owner is credited 100 percent of the going rate for each kilowatt-hour. If the utility charges ratepayers 28 cents for a kilowatt-hour, then the PV-generated kilowatt-hour earns the PV system owner 28 cents. Net-metering programs may or may not allow system owners to earn more than 100 percent of their onsite load over a year-long billing period.

Finally, although it is becoming less of an issue in many states, solar access laws must be in place to support a strong solar market. Solar access laws prevent the enforcement of anti-solar laws based on aesthetics and protect solar access from shade created by foliage, remodeling activity and new buildings. Solar is a 30 to 40 year investment, so owners need to know their access to sunlight will be protected in that time frame.

If you are a policy advocate, this is a great time to begin your solar career by volunteering for pro-solar advocacy organizations such as the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and your local ASES chapter, Solar Nation, Vote Solar, and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and your local SEIA chapters. You can get involved doing anything from writing letters to the editor or your legislators and visiting your representatives personally, so they know you want clear, long-term, pro-solar policies — and you want them now. Volunteering now could help you land a job at a solar nonprofit or business in the future.

America continues pushing toward cleaner energy today - by Tiffany Kaiser

 The UN-supported organization, Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), conducted a study that shows half of new power generated in the United States in 2009 was renewable energy. 

The U.S. has taken great strides toward mass use of renewable energy. Just last year, 10 gigawatts of wind power capacity was installed in the United States, which can power 2.4 million homes. Other advancements in clean energy were made last year as well, such as the $7 million grant for Argonne National Laboratory from the U.S. Department of Energy to further solar power research. 

More recently, the Obama Administration has continued contributing funds to keep renewable energy research rolling along. In April, the U.S. government approved the country’s first off-shore wind farm, despite those who protested the idea, and just this month, Obama gave a hefty sum of $1.85 billion for new solar energy plants to be built around the U.S.  In addition, a promising 73 percent of Americans want to cut fossil fuel dependency in favor of cleaner methods. 

While the U.S. is moving along in regards to green technology, other countries around the world have been joining the revolution for a cleaner planet too by implementing new ideas in green technology. 

In Europe, 60 percent of new power generation in 2009 was in the form of renewable energy. But China has made the most progress when it comes to green technology by manufacturing more solar panels and wind turbines than any other country, as well as adding of 37 gigawatts of renewable energy to China’s overall power generation capacity. Worldwide, renewable energy accounts for 25 percent of total power generation and provided 18 percent of the Earth’s electricity in 2009. 

Despite these strides in the growing use of renewable energy, the U.S. has a long way to go before they accomplish the U.S. Department of Energy’s goal of having 20 percent of America’s power derived from wind by 2030.

By MATT JOYCE • Associated Press • July 19, 2010

ALCOVA, Wyo. — The pump installer toppled the old windmill in about an hour. First he scaled the wobbly 27-foot tower to stop the broken mill’s whirling blade and then pulled the underground pipe to make way for a new solar-powered electric pump.

Iconic mechanical windmills of metal and wood have, for 150 years, pumped life into American ranches and farms in remote locations beyond the reach of power lines. But these days more and more Western ranchers are pulling them down and converting to solar-powered systems.

“They are displacing windmills every day,” said Scott Blakeley, owner of Pronghorn Pump and Repair in Glenrock, as he traveled to an installation job on a ranch southwest of Casper. “Primarily because of the mechanical problems that you have. You fix one issue on a windmill today, something else is broke tomorrow. And in August, when you need water the most, the wind blows the least in Wyoming, and in most Western states.”

Ranchers use windmills and other pump systems to open more land for grazing by drawing well water for livestock in areas without surface water. Blakeley, who has also installed solar pump equipment in Utah, Montana and Colorado, said the solar segment of his business grows by about 35 percent per year.

Solar-powered pumps have been available for more than 20 years, but their efficiency and durability now have reached the point that many ranchers are at least considering them when they need to replace an old windmill or drill a new well.

Solar pump costs vary widely — from $4,500 to more than $10,000 — and still often exceed typical windmill replacement or repair costs.

“If [windmills] are working and meeting the needs of the farm, there’s not a reason to go change it,” said Mike Morris, farm energy team leader for the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service. “But when it breaks and you have to do something different, I would think that if you’re far from power, solar is going to be extremely competitive if not the best option in many or most cases.”

They normally require less upkeep and break down less often than windmills, which include more moving parts that can wear out, Morris said. Ranchers using solar wells can endure cloudy days by building tanks big enough to hold several days worth of water for their livestock, Morris said.

“In the West it’s much more common to be far from power,” he said. “In the Midwest or East, very often where you need the water, you might be within a quarter mile of power. In that situation, really there is no reason economically to go with solar.”

Despite the solar trend, windmills are unlikely to disappear from the landscape. Many ranches that relied on windmills for generations have the know-how and equipment to keep their windmills operating. And some companies said their windmill-related sales remain strong.

Peg Muller, owner of Muller Industries Inc., a manufacturer and wholesaler of windmills and windmill parts in Yanktown, S.D., said solar wells have had no impact on her business, which sells to customers across the country. Some ranchers don’t want to experiment with new systems or are discouraged by the price, Muller said.

“It seems like maybe you lose an account over here and you pick up another over here,” Muller said. “It really hasn’t affected our business. There are tens of thousands of windmills out there.”

For Randy Marton, the Wyoming sheep and cattle rancher who hired Blakeley to replace his broken windmill with a solar pump this month, the new well’s $4,500 cost was worth it. Marton said windmill repair workers are hard to find and maintenance costs are expensive.

“If you look at the average age of ranchers in Wyoming, they’re all getting to be about my age or older — they’re not going to crawl up these windmills anymore,” said Marton, 58.

By Thomas Ajava 

2008 and 2009 were brutal years thanks to the Great Recession. No business area got through it without being pummeled to one extent or another. Well, there were exceptions. Surprisingly, solar energy was one of them.

Solar energy has long been known to be the perfect clean energy source, but it has always been to expensive to really become popular on a large scale. Well, no more. Federal, state and even local governments now offer major financial incentives to those who pursue it. The cost of systems has also dropped dramatically as supply has built up. Throw in the savings on utility bills and you have an energy source that is suddenly popular. How popular? Residential solar energy generation doubled from 2008 to 2009.

Think about that for a minute. Residential solar panel sales were way up in the middle of the worst economy since the Great Depression. This would seem to suggest that the energy platform has turned the corner and become a viable, realistic energy source in the modern world, no?

Don’t get me wrong. Solar still has a long way to go. It produces less than one thousandth of the total energy in the United States. That being said, imagine how it will ramp up if the economy gets cruising again. If sales doubled in a bad year, one can only imagine how well they will do in a good economic environment.

Unfortunately, the residential solar panel movement is not a uniform one across the country. California has the most installations by far. It is followed by New Jersey, Florida, Arizona and Colorado. New Jersey?  Yes, which also proves that solar panels are viable well beyond the Sun Belt.

So, does this mean we’ll see solar panels on every home in the next couple of years? Of course, not. Still, there is no denying that things are headed that way.