Government Report Forecasts Big Gains for U.S. Solar

By Solar Industry

The Solar Industries Association (SEIA) says a new U.S. federal study forecasts that solar energy will play a big role in the coming years. Citing a report from the U.S. Energy (EIA), SEIA notes that the government agency predicts most new electric generation agency predicts most new electric generation capacity in the U.S. through 2040 will come from natural gas and renewable energy. Of the 832 GW of renewable capacity additions being forecast, nearly half is expected to come from solar photovoltaic systems.

“Solar is fastest-growing source of renewable energy today – and, as this report bears out, it will continue to be for years and years to come,” says Rhone Resch, president and CEO of SEIA. “The continued, rapid deployment of solar nationwide will create thousands of new American jobs, pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy and help to significantly reduce pollution. Just as importantly, it will also provide Americans with the freedom to decide how to power their homes, businesses, schools and government facilities in the future. “This report predicts that 60 percent of all new PV installation in the years ahead will be rooftop solar, creating significant savings when it comes to future energy costs,” continue Resch. “But this progress could be jeopardized if smart public policies, such as the solar investment tax credit (ITC), net energy metering and renewable portfolio standards, come under renewed attack by entrenched fossil fuel interests.

“Of immediate concern, we are strongly urging Congress to adopt ‘commence construction’ language this year, allowing project developers to take full advantage of the highly-successful solar ITC and giving Americans access to new, affordable clean energy sources.”

Top Five Job Sectors to Benefit from EPA's Proposed Clean Power Plan

By Camille H. Davis, Solar Industry

On June 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of President Obama's Climate Action Plan, proposed an initial set of rules to cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal plants by as much as 30 percent by 2030. Because the proposal is state specific, each state can decide how it will go about reaching the requirements. States should not have to choose between a strong economy and healthy environment, and provided they come up with a successful mix, there is no reason why they will ever need to make that decision.

The most discussed issue seems to be the feared job loss that would occur as a result of the implementation of this rule. However, in growing industries such as solar technology and biofuel, jobs are available for those with the necessary training and certification.

It looks as if a sustainable workforce boom is on the horizon.

CleanEdison was founded with the intention of providing education and training for a growing renewable workforce. Here are the top five job sectors that we expect to benefit the most from the EPA's proposed plan:

1. Construction
The EPA projects natural gas to account for 32 percent of U.S. power by 2030. The construction sector could gain a total of 62,500 jobs from the construction of new natural gas plants alone. This is without counting the hundreds of thousands of construction jobs that will be required to upgrade our electric grid and build new transmission lines.

2. Manufacturing
In 2011, the solar industry employed over 100,000 workers, with an expected growth rate of 27,000 net new solar manufacturing jobs the next year, and this was before the EPA proposed the carbon cut rule.

While solar manufacturing has taken a hit as production of photovoltaic components moved offshore, increasing demand and new technologies hold out the promise of bringing some of these jobs back. Moreover, the EPA rules may also spur manufacturing job creation in other cleantech sectors as well, including the following:

• Wind power: Domestically manufactured equipment used in wind turbines 70 percent in 2011, with 560 factories directly employing 75,000 full-time employees. This number can be expected to grow substantially;
• Hydroelectricity: If the U.S. utilized just 6 percent to 15 percent of its untapped hydropower resources, the total number of jobs required to meet that target could generate as many as 700,000 jobs; and
• Geothermal: According to the U.S. Department of Energy, geothermal systems are the most efficient of all heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. Geothermal energy provides more jobs on a per-megawatt basis than natural gas. Approximately 248.7 million acres of public lands in the western U.S. are areas of identified geothermal potential, and a single geothermal plant generates about 860 jobs.

3. Solar installation and sales
Solar energy is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the nation. Sales and distribution employed about 23,910 people in 2012, and installation employed 65,571 people. With respective growth rates of 22 percent and 35 percent, that's an additional 5,260 and 22,950 jobs.

As the solar sector continues to grow, a steadily growing supply of qualified installers will be needed to support the build-out.

4. Workforce training providers
People need to be trained on how to make, install and maintain a solar panel or build green buildings. This educational workforce can expect to grow in parallel with the demand for a sustainable, qualified workforce.

5. Engineering
Every renewable project will necessitate a variety of engineers and technical specialists in a wide array of fields: electrical, civil, information technology, systems management, waste management, simulation modeling, operations, structural, energy analysis. The list goes on. These engineers and certified specialists will all need to design specific solutions for the wave of new clients that will be generated by the EPA's clean power plan.

As conventional energy sources become more costly in both economic and environmental terms, the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries are accelerating. In particular, things are looking up for the solar energy industry, which means less dependence on fossil fuels, a greener environment and more jobs.

Although many of these jobs require specific technical skills, harnessing the opportunity in this booming industry is not as intimidating as it may seem.

Camille H. Davis handles business development and public relations at CleanEdison, a New York-based provider of cleantech sector employment education.

D.C. Universities Strike Deal to Buy Solar from North Carolina

Three Washington, D.C. academic institutions have joined the ever-growing list of businesses going solar.

George Washington University, American University and the George Washington University Hospital will receive up to 52 MW of output from a trio of solar photovoltaic plants in North Carolina, which are being developed and managed by Duke Energy Renewables. The Capital Partners Solar Project includes three separate power purchase agreements (PPA) between Duke and the three academic institutions.

The three entities indicate that purchasing solar PV provides cost savings and emissions reductions while demonstrating environmental responsibilities. For instance, the 20-year agreement provides fixed pricing at a lower total price than current power alternatives. And as the prices of those alternatives likely increase, the savings will be even greater in the future.

“Thanks to this innovative partnership, George Washington University will now derive more than half of its electricity from solar energy,” according to Steve Knapp, university president. “This will greatly accelerate our progress toward the carbon neutrality target we had earlier set for 2025.”

Under the agreement, George Washington University will receive about 86.6 million kW, American University will get 30 million kW and George Washington University Hospital will receive about 6 million kW annually.

The 20-year deal will provide fixed pricing for solar energy for a lower price than the schools pay currently for power, due in part to its large scale. George Washington University spent about $13 million on electricity last year and American University, about $5 million.

Duke Energy Renewables President Greg Wolf said the first of three solar plants needed for the agreement; a 20 MW PV solar project in Pasquotank County, N.C.; will be finished at the end of this year.

The remaining 32 MW will also be built in North Carolina and will be configured to meet the terms of the PPA, Wolf said.

Duke currently owns 170 MW of generating capacity at 21 solar plants, 14 of which are located in North Carolina.

Solar power generated in North Carolina will move to the Washington, D.C. region’s electrical grid for the universities and an equivalent amount of conventional electricity will be withdrawn from that grid.

“There is a significant amount of solar being built in North Carolina, and we’re glad to be part of that,” said Wolf.

New Energy Maps Show 4 Cool Things about Renewables

By Bobby Magill, Climate Central

When the U.S. Energy Information Administration launched its new U.S. Energy Mapping System last fall and upgraded it for use on mobile devices in early June, it powered a system allowing anyone to visualize some of the reams of data the EIA compiles on all things energy-related in the country.

That mapping system has a lot to show about renewables — critical to reducing climate change-driving greenhouse gas emissions — and the spread of renewables development across the continent. Here are four cool things the new Energy Mapping System can show you about where renewable energy is being produced and where it has the potential to be generated in the future:

1. Wind Turbines Are Being Built In Places You May Not Expect

The wind farms in the U.S. and the wind power production potential of each state. The darker the shade of brown, the lower the wind potential. The light blue signifies higher wind potential and the dark blue signifies the highest wind potential. Credit: EIA

Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and Oklahoma have huge wind power potential, and giant wind farms, too. Large swathes of the East have very low wind power potential. But because Appalachian ridge tops see high sustained winds, the EIA’s maps show the pattern of wind farms that have been built throughout the Northeast in regions that otherwise have little wind power potential.

This is especially true in Pennsylvania, where wind farms sprawl along ridge tops in regions that, at first blush, look like there is little wind potential at all. But Pennsylvania generated 2.1 million megawatt hours of wind power in 2012, about as much as windy New Mexico, EIA data show.

New York, another Northeast state shown on the EIA map as having little wind potential, generated even more wind power than Pennsylvania in 2012. New York produced nearly 3 million megawatt hours of wind power in 2012, about half that of Colorado.

The maps also show large areas of the U.S. with high wind power potential going untapped, especially in South Dakota and along the Colorado Front Range near Denver. These areas are highlighted in bright blue on the map.

2. The Cloudier Northeast Has Its Share Of Solar Power

The solar power potential of the contiguous U.S. and the sites of most of the nation's solar power generating facilities. The darker the shade of brown, the greater the solar power production potential of an area. Credit: EIA

The EIA’s map shows that many solar power plants are where you’d expect them to be — in Arizona, Nevada and California where sunny skies are the defining feature of the climate there. But solar power plants are also spread throughout New Jersey, New York and New England, where the solar power potential is fairly low.

Sure, some of the nation’s largest solar power plants are in Arizona and California, but the map shows that, though the solar power plants in the Northeast are generally small, solar can be done there, too.

New Jersey, for example, produced about twice as much solar power in 2012 as sunny Colorado did and nearly a third more solar power in 2012 as Florida, where the solar power potential is significantly greater than anywhere in the Northeast. EIA data show that New Jersey produced 304,000 megawatt hours of solar power that year, while Florida produced 194,000 megawatt hours and Colorado produced 165,000.

3. Biomass Power Production Is All Over, But Mainly In The East And Midwest

The biomass power production potential and biomass power plants scattered across the Lower 48 states. The darker the shade of green, the greater the biomass power production potential. Biomass power plants can be anything from solid waste incinerators to landfills generating power from burning methane emissions. Credit: EIA

Biomass energy comes from many different sources, primarily the burning of wood and wood products and capturing and burning landfill gas and other waste gases. Nationally, more than 57 million megawatt hours of electricity were produced from biomass sources in 2012, with Florida and California producing the most biomass energy.

But the EIA maps show that most facilities producing biomass electricity are concentrated in the Northeast, Upper Midwest and South, especially around Miami, Chicago, Detroit and New York City. The power plants shown on the EIA map use a wide range of sources of fuel to produce electricity. For example, The Covanta Essex Company’s 60 megawatt Covanta Essex resource recovery plant in Essex County, N.J., produces electricity by burning more than 2,800 tons of municipal solid waste each day. An irrigation district in Turlock, Calif., burns methane produced from the treatment of wastewater to generate 1.2 megawatts of electricity.

4. The U.S. Has Great Geothermal Potential; Most Of It Is Untapped

The geothermal power production potential across the country and the sites of current geothermal power plants in the U.S. The darker the shade of brown, the higher the geothermal power production potential of the area. Credit: EIA

Nevada, California, Utah, New Mexico, western Colorado are all places with large geothermal resources (heat from places where molten rock comes relatively close to the earth’s surface). But nationwide, there are only a handful of geothermal power plants, which in 2012 produced about 15.5 million megawatt hours of electricity, mostly in California, where geothermal accounts for roughly 5 percent of the state’s power generation, according to EIA data.

Geothermal power generation has been slow, according to EIA data, mainly because of the cost and risk involved in building new geothermal power plants, which can take up to eight years longer to complete than wind and solar power generating facilities.

Reprinted with permission from Climate Central

Duke Energy Plots Attack on North Carolina’s Solar Revolution

North Carolina has become a hot spot for solar. The state was second in the nation in solar growth in 2013, behind only California. So if U.S. states were considered countries, North Carolina would have qualified as one of the top 10 countries in the world for solar growth last year.

All of that solar growth, driven by policies like the state’s renewable energy portfolio law, has been a boon for North Carolina’s economy, generating $1.7 billion in revenue for the state. At the end of 2012, 137 solar companies employed 1,400 people in North Carolina and that number increased during a record year in 2013 for solar.

But while solar shines brightly in North Carolina, a dark cloud is approaching that is putting all the benefits of solar at risk. Duke Energy, which is the state’s monopoly utility and the largest power company in the country, is about to launch a major attack on solar energy.

In January, Paul Newton, Duke’s president of North Carolina operations, launched the first shots in the attack on solar. Speaking in front of a joint energy committee of the state’s legislature, Newton attacked net metering, one of the key policies to North Carolina’s solar growth.

Net metering allows customers with rooftop solar panels to get credit for any extra electricity that they send back to the grid. It’s kind of like rollover minutes on a cell phone bill.

Newton argued that solar customers aren’t “paying their fair share” to Duke, and because of that, his company would be forced to charge higher rates to all of its other customers as a result.

The problem is those allegations are false. A study conducted last year showed that the benefits of rooftop solar in North Carolina – even for customers who don’t have the panels – would outweigh any costs by 30 percent. The reason is as more homes and businesses go solar, Duke wouldn't have to keep building expensive gas and coal plants, which are bad for the environment, and consequently raising rates on its customers to finance them. Those rate benefits are aside from the job creation, climate, and public health positives of solar power. However, Duke’s shareholders profit by building those gas and coal plants, which is exactly why rooftop solar is in the line of fire.

Duke’s Big Ally in its War on Solar: ALEC

Duke isn't the first utility in the U.S. to attack net metering; utility companies in California, Arizona and Colorado began similar campaigns in 2013, and others are forming battle plans now. In December, The Guardian newspaper uncovered that these power companies have been coordinating their efforts under the guise of the American Legislative Exchange Council, (ALEC), a group that lets corporations like Duke ghostwrite laws for right-wing state legislators.

Many utilities are ALEC members and continue to make ALEC’s top priority to attack net metering laws. Forty percent of NC state lawmakers are ALEC members, and because of that Duke will rely on them to do their bidding.

So far, Duke and ALEC’s communications strategy has been to stigmatize solar energy as being only for the wealthy. Their argument is that resident shouldn’t let the rich with solar panels get even richer on the backs of non-solar households.

In the beginning of solar, it may have been mostly higher income families, since it involved a cost upfront. However, recent research reveals that middle class neighborhoods are increasingly opting for solar. In any case, if ALEC and the utility companies are so worried about the poor, perhaps they should be trying to give more solar access to working and middle class communities, since it will help them save money, and not take away their chance to go solar by attacking policies like net metering.

Duke will eventually learn to bask in the sun.

A few days after Newton went in front of the legislature to attack solar policies, Duke Energy’s Facebook and Twitter feeds started bragging, amazingly, about North Carolina’s solar growth:

Shining in solar. North Carolina ranks fourth in the nation. #solarpic.twitter.com/twBF8eXzIb
— Duke Energy (@DukeEnergy) January 16, 2014

That was not the only public display of support for solar power Duke has shown in recent months. Previous CEO Jim Rogers said that he saw said that he saw rooftop solar as an opportunity as much as a threat, and in March, Duke bought a stake of a distributed solar power financing company, Clean Power Finance.

Were these moves signs that Duke is embracing the solar revolution, or just a PR move to appear more green? Both may be true: Duke is feeling its way around the edges of solar opportunities while stalling for time by attacking net metering. One scenario that would speed up Duke’s solar transition is if it loses on net metering, which would force the company to quickly come to terms with the inevitability of solar.

A Duke loss on net metering is far from a given, considering Duke and ALEC’s almost unlimited influence in North Carolina politics. Though even with all of Duke’s money and political power, it can’t change one simple reality: Rooftop solar is immensely popular. A 2013 poll showed that 88 percent of North Carolinians support solar energy. Last year, when ALEC attacked North Carolina’s renewable energy law and the effort failed because Republicans in the legislature recognized growing solar power as a job creator. In fact, ALEC’s efforts to attack renewable energy laws failed in every state where it tried in 2013.

Now, solar advocates will suit up to fight the next attack wave in this year. The sooner they win, the sooner utility companies such as Duke will have to face the music and realize that they need to join their customers as they bask in the sun.

Rewritten from David Pomerantz, Greenpeace Blogs

NCSEA Poll Confirms North Carolina's Overwhelming Support of Clean & Affordable Energy

Statewide voters across political parties embrace clean energy policy and adoption

By Victoria Somol, NCSEA

Raleigh, N.C., May 22, 2014 – The NC Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA), a leading 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to shaping the state’s clean and efficient energy future, announces the results of the fourth annual North Carolina Statewide Survey (MoE± 3.45) confirming overwhelming support for the increased use of diverse clean energy sources by voters of all political parties. According to the poll of 803 registered North Carolina voters conducted by Fallon Research March 23-27, 2014, 83 percent of respondents think state leaders and elected officials should seek more renewable energy sources to provide consumers and businesses with affordable electricity. Additionally, 90 percent of respondents support the use of solar energy, while 88 and 82 percent support the use of energy-efficient programs and land-based wind energy, respectively.

Driven largely by the state’s market-based clean energy policies, North Carolina was recently named one of the fastest growing markets for clean energy solutions, and is now ranked second nationwide in solar power installations. "Support for clean energy can be a winning message for our state's leaders regardless of political affiliation. North Carolina is leading in these technologies, voters are noticing and they are asking for more," said Paul Shumaker, leading political strategist, President of Capitol Communications.

In 2007, North Carolina became the first state in the Southeast to adopt the Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS) law, which, according to the poll, received support from 71 percent of North Carolinians this year, and 15 percent not having an opinion. The law requires North Carolina’s electric power providers to generate a portion of their electricity needs through renewable energy resources enabling over $2 billion in renewable energy investments since 2007. North Carolina’s leaders confirmed their support of this policy by blocking an attempted legislative rollback and repeal in 2013.

Other notable survey results include:

• 86 percent of Democrats, 84 percent of Independents and 77 percent of Republicans saying state leaders should seek more alternative or renewable energy sources; and
• 74 percent of respondents felt power and electricity prices had increased over the last two years; with more than half thinking the increase was due to power companies increasing their profits or inflation and the economy, and only 5 percent thinking it was due to renewable energy mandates.
  
• 94 percent of voters under the age of 30 and 86 percent of voters between ages 30-44 said state leaders and elected officials in North Carolina should seek more alternative or renewable energy sources in order to provide consumers and businesses with electricity.

“Now in our fourth year of polling, these results are consistently telling us that energy policy is important to North Carolinians. What’s more, constituents are making note of their rising electricity bills and are looking to our leaders in the state legislature to adopt commonsense changes,” NCSEA executive director Ivan Urlaub said of the survey results, which revealed 83 percent of respondents support new energy policies that would create opportunities for clean energy companies that use renewable energy to offer affordable electricity to consumers.

“One way we can ease the burden of rising utility bills for North Carolina families and businesses is to build upon a framework that supports a competitive energy market that drives innovation, expands business opportunities and improves local economies.”

The poll results parallel the rapid growth of North Carolina’s clean energy economy, due in large part to the benefits afforded by the state’s REPS law, among others. According to NCSEA’s 2013 Clean Energy Industry Census, the clean energy industry experienced significant job growth in 2013, employing 18,404 full-time equivalent employees in North Carolina, a 20 percent increase from 2012. Moreover, state government energy efficiency programs saved an estimated $427 million in taxpayer dollars from 2007-2012 alone.

“This polling lays a foundation for lawmakers to devise a clean energy future with their voters in mind,” said Betsy McCorkle, NCSEA’s Director of Government Affairs. “These results prove that there’s an appetite to invest in a diverse set of sustainable energy solutions, which serve as the foundation to our economic prosperity – and offer a significant value for businesses and the community.”

Learn more and see the complete 2014 Fallon Research Energy Poll Survey Results.