With the U.S. commonly predicted to be the next big, booming market forsolar, and the U.S. government pinning hopes for economic recovery onthe job-creation potential for solar, the solar-friendliness ofpolicies and provisions implemented by the federal government this yearwill undoubtedly help determine whether both sets of lofty expectationscan be met.
At a recent hearing held by the Senate’s Environmentand Public Works Committee and Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the NewEconomy, high-profile solar company executives and government officialsoutlined the most crucial steps that the federal government mustpromptly take in order to ensure continued growth in the country’ssolar market. Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, noted thatthe installation of large-scale solar projects has created a majorshift in operational tactics at the Department of the Interior (DOI)."For the first time ever, environmentally responsible renewable energydeployment is a priority at this department," he stated, according toprepared remarks released by the Senate.
Salazar stressed thatthe DOI, which oversees 20% of the U.S.’ land, must expedite itsprocessing of the 128 utility-scale solar project applications -totaling approximately 77,000 MW – that the Bureau of Land Managementis currently evaluating. Renewable Energy Coordination Offices, projectfast-tracking and the identification of 1,000 square miles in the Westas Solar Energy Study Areas are expected to help maintain the momentum.
Inconjunction with the Department of Energy (DOE), the DOI is alsopreparing for a release late this year of a Solar Energy DevelopmentProgrammatic Environmental Impact Statement, designed to provide a"landscape-scale plan for siting solar energy projects on our publiclands in the Southwest that have been identified as having the bestpotential for utility-scale solar energy development," Salazar added.
RobertRogan, senior vice president at concentrating solar thermal (CSP)company eSolar, urged the Senate committee to help remove existingbarriers to solar development both on and off DOI land.
"Almostevery solar project developer, especially CSP providers, hasencountered significant obstacles in the environmental permittingprocess for both private and federal public lands," he pointed out. "Weask for your support in streamlining the environmental permittingprocesses to ensure these solar facilities are built on reasonabletimelines."
Complications associated with connecting completedsolar facilities to the grid and transmitting the power produced alsoranked as high priorities for the solar executives who testified. Rogancalled for a "coherent national transmission network plan, includingexpedited permitting for new transmission lines that carry renewableenergy."
Existing transmission siting and interconnection rulesdeveloped several decades ago must be updated, agreed First Solar CEORob Gillette, who cited transmission constraints as one of numerouspotential threats to the U.S.’ solar energy deployment – as well as thejob-creation benefits that go along with it.
"Without a growingand predictable domestic market, the U.S. risks losing the global racefor solar technology and associated green jobs and could be relegatedto an importer of products developed and manufactured in othercountries," Gillette warned.
To effect a positive policyoutcome, the government must first extend the Treasury’s Section 1603cash-grant program, through Dec. 12, 2012, in an upcoming jobs bill,said Gillette, whose recommendation was echoed by other industryexecutives. The program is currently set to expire at the end of thisyear.
"A defining feature of the Treasury grant program is thatit vastly extends the pool of investors who are attracted to thestable, long-term return on investment that a utility-scale solar plantprovides," explained Gillette. "The grant program also benefits thedebt side of solar financing by lowering the cost of debt at a timewhen financing continues to be tight."
Similarly, the DOE’sloan-guarantee program, another financial backstop intended to mitigatethe effects of the U.S.’ still-shaky economy, must be extended to 2016,according to the solar executives who testified.
Gilletteexplained that this new timetable would better synchronize the program,which is set to expire in 2011, with the lengthy development timelinestypical of the projects it supports.
"Additionally, I stronglyencourage the Senate to adopt the House’s position on H.R.2847, whichwill allow for multiple DOE loan applications for a single technology,"added eSolar’s Rogan. "Currently, our development partner NRG can onlyaccess DOE loans for our New Mexico project, but cannot use DOE loanguarantees for either of our two California projects."
Some ofthe other key policy issues highlighted in the Senate hearing,including a national renewable electricity standard and cap-and-trademechanisms for curbing carbon emissions, are likely to havefar-reaching effects across the solar market.
For residentialand other small-scale solar installations specifically, Jeff Wolfe, CEOof solar distributor groSolar, suggested three actions to boostdeployment and create jobs.
Wolfe first called for the Senate toapprove the 10 Million Solar Roofs program, an initiative based onCalifornia’s Million Solar Roofs program that was recently introducedby Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. This initiative helpsdefray solar system costs for homeowners and small businesses.
Inaddition, Wolfe requested that the tax credit for residential solarinstallations be expanded to 50% of the cost of an eligible solarsystem.
"Third, and last, is to open up the ability to financesmaller projects as part of the proposed Green Energy Bank," saidWolfe. "Giving large banks the ability to lend has not created withinthem the desire to lend."
For each of these recommendations,Wolfe stressed the economic benefits for both the homeowner orsmall-business owner that purchases a system and the solar-sectorworkers involved with the manufacturing and installation of theequipment.
Annually, each megawatt of solar photovoltaic systems deployed in the U.S. creates 25 jobs, he noted.
"Mostof those jobs are impossible to send offshore, because they are on theground and on the roof," Wolfe continued. "It’s simply hard to installsolar panels in this country unless you are in this country."
Original E-Feature Article on Solar Industry Magazine