Solar Rental System Program Introduced to Perris at Home & Garden Show
Monday, September 24th, 2007 at
6:16 pm
A controversial new Solar Panel Rental System was embraced with enthusiasm by customers introduced to it by Reggie Rasmussen and two of his team members over the weekend at the Perris California Home Show.
Reggie and Ecoprenuers Steve Laurvick and Jorge Bernal signed up 100 applicants to the "Citizenre Forward Rental Application (FRA)."
"It was 100 on the nose," said Reggie, "I don't think they'll believe me at corporate."
Ecopreneurs like Reggie and his team members are rapidly expanding the potential client base of a company by the name of Citizenre. They are in the process of finding parties who are interested in renting solar panel systems with no upfront fees rather than buying solar systems out of pocket or financing sytems that cost $20,000 -$50,000.
During the show, Reggie was busy training team SolarJoules newest member Jorge, who signed 16 customers on Saturday breaking Rasmussen's first day record of 14. On Sunday, Jorge added 14 more for a total of 30 new customers for the solar panel rental program.
"Should all houses qualify for our solution Jorge stands to earn $54,000 or more over the next 25 years from his first two days on the job ," said Rasmussen, "Not bad for two days work."
Customers have to get in line though. To date over 20,000 interested parties have signed up knowing they will have to wait close to a year for a Citizenre Solar Engineer to come to their house for an analysis.
"This is a tremendously easy product to sell," said Laurvick, "There are no upfront costs and for most of the customers of Southern California Edison here at the Perris show they will be saving $50-$175 a month when the solar system goes up on their property."
You can become part of the SolarJoules solution too. "We are actively seeking out new Ecoprenuers and adding training material to the site all the time," Reggie says, "If anyone wants to learn more just go to www.SolarJoules.com and fill out the request form."
Click to enlarge photos of the Solar Panel Rental program SolarJoules sales team 9/22/2007.
The BatteryMINDer Solar Charging System is an ideal choice for 12 Volt battery operations. This complete system is specifically designed for charging and maintaining up to four 12V batteries of any size/type/brand. Extends performance and life of 12V lead-acid, maintenance-free, marine deep cycle and sealed AGM batteries. Fully automatic desulfator dissolves life-shortening sulfate using safe low voltage high frequency pulses. Charges: Yes, Maintains: Yes, Desulfates: Yes, Conditioner: Yes, Works With: 12V lead-acid batteries, Amps: 1.25, Trickle Charge Amps: Regulated up to 1.25A, Charges Multiple Batteries (qty.): 4, Overcharge Protection: Yes, Polarity Reversal Protection: Yes, Power Source: Solar panel, Power Cord (ft.): 20in. from panel to controller Built-in automatic desulfator Not for use with aircraft batteries
PowerG Grid-Tie Solar System offers this grid-tie solar system that is designed for residential and commercial applications. The kit provides an investment-grade array of solar panels, inverters, racking and technical support to capture the power of the sun for your home or business. High-performance 240 Watt, 72 cell monocrystalline solar panels (64.6in.L x 39.1in.W x 1.8in.H) collect power and heavy-duty, 60Hz based inverter converts solar energy to grid-tie compliant AC power. Call 888-955-3469 for a free online site evaluation and quote. Common Usage: Grid-Tie System, Panel Type: Monocrystalline, Solar Panel Wattage: 240 Per panel, Rated Watts (kW): 2.18, Dimensions L x W (in.): 64 5/8 x 39 1/8, Thickness (in.): 1 13/16, Material Type: 72 Cell monocrystalline, Solar Panels Included (qty.): 9, Battery Qty.: 0, Mounting Hardware Included: Yes Reduce or even eliminate electrical bills; in some cases system can spin meter backwards and sell excess electricity back to the utility
PowerG Grid-Tie Solar System offers this grid-tie solar system that is designed for residential and commercial applications. The kit provides an investment-grade array of solar panels, inverters, racking and technical support to capture the power of the sun for your home or business. High-performance 240 Watt, 72 cell monocrystalline solar panels (64.6in.L x 39.1in.W x 1.8in.H) collect power and heavy-duty, 60Hz based inverter converts solar energy to grid-tie compliant AC power. Call 888-955-3469 for free online evaluation and quote. Common Usage: Grid-Tie System, Panel Type: Monocrystalline, Solar Panel Wattage: 240 Per panel, Rated Watts (kW): 2.88, Dimensions L x W (in.): 64 5/8 x 39 1/8, Thickness (in.): 1 13/16, Material Type: 72 Cell monocrystalline, Solar Panels Included (qty.): 12, Battery Qty.: 0, Mounting Hardware Included: Yes Reduce or even eliminate electrical bills; in some cases system can spin meter backwards and sell excess electricity back to the utility
PowerG Grid-Tie Solar System offers this grid-tie solar system that is designed for residential and commercial applications. The kit provides an investment-grade array of solar panels, inverters, racking and technical support to capture the power of the sun for your home or business. High-performance 240 Watt, 72 cell monocrystalline solar panels (64.6in.L x 39.1in.W x 1.8in.H) collect power and heavy-duty, 60Hz based inverter converts solar energy to grid-tie compliant AC power. Call 888-955-3469 for free online evaluation and quote. Common Usage: Grid-Tie System, Panel Type: Monocrystalline, Solar Panel Wattage: 240 Per panel, Rated Watts (kW): 5.76, Dimensions L x W (in.): 64 5/8 x 39 1/8, Thickness (in.): 1 13/16, Material Type: 72 Cell monocrystalline, Solar Panels Included (qty.): 24, Battery Qty.: 0, Mounting Hardware Included: Yes Reduce or even eliminate electrical bills; in some cases system can spin meter backwards and sell excess electricity back to the utility
PowerG Grid-Tie Solar System offers this grid-tie solar system that is designed for residential and commercial applications. The kit provides an investment-grade array of solar panels, inverters, racking and technical support to capture the power of the sun for your home or business. High-performance 240 Watt, 72 cell monocrystalline solar panels (64.6in.L x 39.1in.W x 1.8in.H) collect power and heavy-duty, 60Hz based inverter converts solar energy to grid-tie compliant AC power. Call 888-955-3469 for free online evaluation and quote. Common Usage: Grid-Tie System, Panel Type: Monocrystalline, Solar Panel Wattage: 240 Per panel, Rated Watts (kW): 7.92, Dimensions L x W (in.): 64 5/8 x 39 1/8, Thickness (in.): 1 13/16, Material Type: 72 Cell monocrystalline, Solar Panels Included (qty.): 33, Battery Qty.: 0, Mounting Hardware Included: Yes Reduce or even eliminate electrical bills; in some cases system can spin meter backwards and sell excess electricity back to the utility
Optimizes all solar panels charge rates. Prevents over/under charging. Full time desulphation pulses safely extends life and performance of all batteries. Features exclusive U.S. Patented PulseMode desulphation circuitry, designed to safely remove sulphation. Charges: Yes, Maintains: Yes, Desulfates: Yes, Conditioner: Yes, Works With: All batteries / 12V lead-acid, Amps: .45, Trickle Charge Amps: Regulated up to 0.45 as needed, Charges Multiple Batteries (qty.): 1, Overcharge Protection: Yes, Polarity Reversal Protection: Yes, Power Source: Solar panel, Power Cord (ft.): 20 Not for use with aircraft batteries
This country started an industrial revelution. Next came the communications revolution – then the internet revolution. The next revolution will be the solar revolution. Not too long ago solar costs were over $9 per watt – now AVA Solar can produce solar at a cost below $1 per watt.
Fort Collins-based AVA Solar Inc. says it plans to develop a solar-panel manufacturing plant that could employ up to 500 workers.
The firm, founded by energy researchers at Colorado State University, proposes to mass-produce high-efficiency solar electricity panels at a cost approaching that of conventional power from fossil fuels.
Company officials are eyeing a northern Colorado location for the plant and have investigated sites in Fort Collins and Loveland.
At full production, the facility could make 3 million panels each year with a total generating capacity of 200 megawatts, enough electricity to power about 40,000 homes.
That would make the plant one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. that uses advanced “thin film” technology instead of the more common crystalline silicon used in most photovoltaic panels.
The proposed plant would start initial commercial production by the end of next year and possibly reach full capacity in 2009.
AVA’s technique of using cadmium telluride requires 100 times less semiconductor material than the same- sized panels with crystalline silicon, officials said, and thus reduces total production costs by about half.
CSU researcher W.S. Sampath has been working on the technology for 16 years. Earlier this year, Sampath and two other faculty members – Kurt Barth and Al Enzenroth – formed AVA Solar with unidentified equity partners and partial funding from the CSU Research Foundation. Company officials would not disclose how much money they’ve raised or how much more debt and equity it will take for full build-out.
Sampath said the market for solar electric products “is unbelievably great today,” largely because of strong demand in other countries – particularly Germany and Japan, where solar installations have been steeply subsidized.
On a smaller scale, the U.S. government and several states, including Colorado, have begun offering tax incentives and rebates for residential and commercial solar projects.
AVA spokesman Russ Kanjorski said the company has an advantageous position because much of Sampath’s research has been directed toward making the technology relatively easy to scale up from experimental to commercial.
But the firm faces several challenges in achieving large-scale production of low-cost panels, said Rommel Noufi, a solar researcher at the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
He said expected advancements in crystalline silicon panels could reduce the apparent cost and efficiency advantages of cadmium-telluride units.
“There’s no reason for this company not to be successful,” Noufi said. “But it’s a matter of their timeline and certain challenges they have to overcome.”
Another Colorado solar manufacturing firm using a different thin-film technology, Ascent Solar Technologies Inc. of Littleton, is preparing to open a pilot plant by early next year and proceed to commercial production in 2009.
Ascent chief executive Matt Foster termed AVA’s announcement “good news.”
He said AVA’s proposal for a large plant “is a great target to get to for their technology.”
Builders say buyers are seeking them out, and solar industry officials say growth is going through the roof.
By Elizabeth Douglass, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 25, 2007
With foreclosures rising and home prices diving, there is a bright spot in California’s residential real estate market: Solar-powered homes are starting to outsell traditionally electrified new homes in several markets, and developers are stepping up their use of the technology.
Perhaps it’s only fitting for a state that so openly celebrates its sunshine. Still, the growing popularity of household solar power is an encouraging sign for the thousands of solar enthusiasts and vendors gathering in Long Beach this week.
Those builders are seeing that they’ll get more buyers coming to their developments when they have solar. They sell like hot cakes,” said Bernadette del Chiaro, energy specialist at the advocacy group Environment California.
Julie Blumden, a vice president at SunPower Corp., a San Jose-based manufacturer of solar roof tiles, said builders using solar were selling homes faster than nonsolar competitors — an important factor in a slow market. “The increase in sales velocity is actually paying for the solar systems,” she said.
SunPower, which sells its solar tiles to builders including Lennar Homes and Grupe Co., said it had orders to provide solar systems for 3,000 new homes in California in the coming years.
“The last time we saw interest in solar that was anything close to this was back in the 1980s, the first time there were federal tax credits for solar energy,” said Julia Judd Hamm, executive director of the Solar Electric Power Assn. and co-chair of the Solar Power 2007 conference underway at the Long Beach Convention Center. “But the numbers then aren’t even comparable to what we’re seeing now.”
Solar power is hotter than ever, helped by California’s ambitious Million Solar Roofs rebate program, federal tax credits and growing public and political support for renewable power of all kinds. The U.S. solar industry saw record growth last year, with California the largest market by far, according to a study by the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development. And 2007 is shaping up to be another big year, industry officials say.
The boom also has swelled the community of solar products and pitchmen.
Both will be on display at the solar conference and expo, which is expected to draw more than 11,000 attendees in Long Beach, up from 8,500 at last year’s event in San Jose, organizers say. Tonight, the show is free to the public from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Exhibitors will be hawking photovoltaic solar panels in all forms, with some companies showing off systems that embed the technology in carports, roofing tiles and other structures. Some will be targeting individual homeowners, while others will be angling for business with utilities that want to boost their use of renewable power.
California’s largest electric utilities, including Edison International’s Southern California Edison Co., PG&E Corp.’s Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric Co., have signed deals to build power-plant-sized solar facilities in and around the Mojave Desert or negotiated contracts with companies putting up such plants.
“Obviously, there are a nearly unlimited number of rooftops available in California and across the country” for individual solar power production, Hamm said. “At the same time, the whole concept of utility-scale plants is really just starting to gain momentum. So it’s going to be a combination of the two.”
California’s $3.3-billion Million Solar Roofs program is based on the notion that businesses and homeowners would install solar systems faster if the cost was partially offset by rebates and incentives. The goal is to create 3,000 megawatts of new solar power in California by 2017 and to build solar power systems into half of all new homes by 2015.
“We were at 1% in 2004, and we’re probably only at about 5% of all new homes right now,” said Del Chiaro of Environment California. “It’s good growth, but we’re going to have to ramp up quite significantly to get to that 50% mark.”
The solar power industry is drawing its share of star power.
Cable television mogul Ted Turner, who will deliver one of the keynote speeches launching the show today, teamed up this year with New Jersey solar developer Dome-Tech Solar to form a venture called DT Solar. Turner, chairman of Turner Enterprises Inc., said the renamed solar company would continue its focus on designing and installing large-scale projects and was expanding into California and other U.S. markets.
“Clean alternative energy is going to be a huge market because it’s going to be done all over the world and it’s got to be done right away. We’re out of time,” Turner said.
“Solar has probably the most potential because the sun is everywhere.”
Hamm and others are encouraged by the explosion of start-up companies and new products in the solar industry, as well as by the technology’s growing popularity with the public. But she knows solar is still a small fry in the electricity world.
“I don’t think anybody in the solar industry thinks that solar is the answer and is eventually going to take over,” she said. “Right now, solar electricity is about one-tenth to two-tenths of a percent of the entire U.S. energy mix. It’s barely even a dot on the radar screen.”
As mentioned above, we are at the beginning stages of the solar revolution. Check out this article found at cnnmoney.com originally published by Investor’s Business Daily.
Big Utilities Interested In Big Solar
October 01, 2007: 08:05 PM EST
Solar energy is getting bigger — literally.
More utilities are looking to build large solar power (OTCBB:SOPW) plants that can put out as much electricity as coal- or gas-fired plants, but run much cleaner.
“We’re at the start of something,” said Julia Judd, executive director at the Solar Electric Power Association.
Most of the buzz around solar energy has focused on smaller-scale projects, such as solar panels on rooftops. Several solar companies with highflying stocks, such as SunPower SPWR and JA Solar JASO, are in this field.
But interest is building for large, utility-scale solar projects. Such plants offer utilities a way to meet regulatory demands for more renewable energy. Governments worldwide are providing financial incentives for such projects.
“I don’t think (the large projects) are a pipe dream for utility scale renewable energy,” said Reese Tisdale, an analyst with Emerging Energy Research.
Larger-scale solar projects aren’t new. Some of these so-called solar thermal plants were built in the 1970s and 1980s. But these projects petered out in the 1990s as the price of traditional power fell and tax incentives dried up. In the U.S., a few solar thermal plants in Southern California remain today.
Times, though, again are changing.
“You’re weighing costs vs. environmental benefits,” said Keely Wachs, a spokesman with Pacific Gas & Electric. “Now, natural gas prices have gone up considerably. So solar is becoming more and more cost-effective.”
Essentially, solar thermal plants use mirrors to concentrate the heat of the sun on water or another liquid — which turns to steam, and, in turn, cranks turbines to produce electricity.
That’s in contrast to photovoltaic, or PV, technology. Companies like SunPower make solar panels that take the rays of the sun and convert them into electricity without water or a turbine. Though much cheaper to get up and running, PV solar produces power at a cost of more than 30 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with about 20 to 22 cents per kilowatt for solar thermal plants, Tisdale says.
PV solar, though, has exploded in places like California and Germany thanks to heavy government incentives. Homeowners and companies such as Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) WMT and Google GOOG are putting PV panels on their roofs, using the energy created in-house and even putting some excess power back onto the grid.
In 2006, 1,700 megawatts of PV technology was installed worldwide, 20% more than the previous year, and the pace picked up this year, Tisdale says. One megawatt is enough for 750 to 1,000 homes.
Zero solar thermal watts went up last year, but 96 megawatts are expected to go live this year, Tisdale said, and there are plans to add some 5,000 megawatts of solar thermal capacity worldwide by 2012.
Take Pacific Gas & Electric. Late last month it said it would double its commitments to buy solar thermal electric power. It now plans to add 1,000 megawatts of new supply during the next five years. By comparison, it has less than 200 megawatts of PV projects planned, Wachs says.
In California, three of the state’s largest utilities have announced a handful of solar thermal projects that combined will almost meet state requirements for 3,000 megawatts (3 gigawatts) of renewable energy by 2016, Wachs says.
“You can get a big chunk of (power) from solar thermal, so it’s a quick, easy way to meet your regulatory requirements,” said the trade group’s Judd.
Nevada Power, a unit of Sierra Pacific Resources (NYSE:SRP) SRP, is the biggest reason for solar thermal growth this year, thanks to its 63 megawatt plant that opened in June. It makes up 60% of Nevada’s solar capacity, says Tom Fair, Sierra Pacific’s executive for renewable energy.
“In order to make a dent (toward meeting alternative energy requirements), we have to bring in large-scale facilities,” Fair said.
There are no publicly traded U.S. companies solely in the solar thermal plant business. There are a handful of privately held companies in this field. Also into solar thermal is one of the largest makers of renewable energy systems in the world: Spain’s Acciona, a $9 billion firm publicly traded in Europe.
The company sells both PV and solar thermal technology, but it’s made a bet on solar thermal plants for the U.S., says Peter Deprey, chief executive of Acciona Energy in North America.
“We see a lot of promise right now in solar thermal,” he said. “I talk to a lot of utilities. They all want larger-scale plants.”
Ausra, a Palo Alto, Calif., company that recently moved from Australia and landed $40 million in venture funding from Silicon Valley heavyweights Khosla Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers.
The company says it’s developed new technologies that could cut the cost of power produced by solar thermal plants to 8 cents per kilowatt. It uses batteries to provide power when the sun isn’t shining.
“We can be cost competitive,” said Robert Fishman, CEO of Ausra.
The company has projects under way in Australia and Portugal, but sees the southwestern U.S. as the Saudi Arabia of solar thermal.
Ausra founder Peter Le Lievre says the U.S. needs to invest in a better grid system to transport power from the Southwest to the rest of the country.
Still, Travis Bradford, an analyst with Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development, says the solar thermal announcements haven’t been convincing.
“There are a lot of plans,” he said. “Plans are a dime a dozen.”
(5.0 out of 5)
This country started an industrial revelution. Next came the communications revolution – then the internet revolution. The next revolution will be the solar revolution. Not too long ago solar costs were over $9 per watt – now AVA Solar can produce solar at a cost below $1 per watt.
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6802112
Solar plant seen for state
Colorado State University researchers want to develop a plant that would employ 500 and offer low-cost power.
By Steve Raabe Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 09/05/2007 12:54:39 PM MDT
Fort Collins-based AVA Solar Inc. says it plans to develop a solar-panel manufacturing plant that could employ up to 500 workers.
The firm, founded by energy researchers at Colorado State University, proposes to mass-produce high-efficiency solar electricity panels at a cost approaching that of conventional power from fossil fuels.
Company officials are eyeing a northern Colorado location for the plant and have investigated sites in Fort Collins and Loveland.
At full production, the facility could make 3 million panels each year with a total generating capacity of 200 megawatts, enough electricity to power about 40,000 homes.
That would make the plant one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. that uses advanced “thin film” technology instead of the more common crystalline silicon used in most photovoltaic panels.
The proposed plant would start initial commercial production by the end of next year and possibly reach full capacity in 2009.
AVA’s technique of using cadmium telluride requires 100 times less semiconductor material than the same- sized panels with crystalline silicon, officials said, and thus reduces total production costs by about half.
CSU researcher W.S. Sampath has been working on the technology for 16 years. Earlier this year, Sampath and two other faculty members – Kurt Barth and Al Enzenroth – formed AVA Solar with unidentified equity partners and partial funding from the CSU Research Foundation. Company officials would not disclose how much money they’ve raised or how much more debt and equity it will take for full build-out.
Sampath said the market for solar electric products “is unbelievably great today,” largely because of strong demand in other countries – particularly Germany and Japan, where solar installations have been steeply subsidized.
On a smaller scale, the U.S. government and several states, including Colorado, have begun offering tax incentives and rebates for residential and commercial solar projects.
AVA spokesman Russ Kanjorski said the company has an advantageous position because much of Sampath’s research has been directed toward making the technology relatively easy to scale up from experimental to commercial.
But the firm faces several challenges in achieving large-scale production of low-cost panels, said Rommel Noufi, a solar researcher at the Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
He said expected advancements in crystalline silicon panels could reduce the apparent cost and efficiency advantages of cadmium-telluride units.
“There’s no reason for this company not to be successful,” Noufi said. “But it’s a matter of their timeline and certain challenges they have to overcome.”
Another Colorado solar manufacturing firm using a different thin-film technology, Ascent Solar Technologies Inc. of Littleton, is preparing to open a pilot plant by early next year and proceed to commercial production in 2009.
Ascent chief executive Matt Foster termed AVA’s announcement “good news.”
He said AVA’s proposal for a large plant “is a great target to get to for their technology.”
Solar power is heating up in the marketplace. Check out this article for the Los Angeles times.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar25sep25,1,2162627.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true
Sun-powered homes defy a cool housing market.
Builders say buyers are seeking them out, and solar industry officials say growth is going through the roof.
By Elizabeth Douglass, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 25, 2007
With foreclosures rising and home prices diving, there is a bright spot in California’s residential real estate market: Solar-powered homes are starting to outsell traditionally electrified new homes in several markets, and developers are stepping up their use of the technology.
Perhaps it’s only fitting for a state that so openly celebrates its sunshine. Still, the growing popularity of household solar power is an encouraging sign for the thousands of solar enthusiasts and vendors gathering in Long Beach this week.
Those builders are seeing that they’ll get more buyers coming to their developments when they have solar. They sell like hot cakes,” said Bernadette del Chiaro, energy specialist at the advocacy group Environment California.
Julie Blumden, a vice president at SunPower Corp., a San Jose-based manufacturer of solar roof tiles, said builders using solar were selling homes faster than nonsolar competitors — an important factor in a slow market. “The increase in sales velocity is actually paying for the solar systems,” she said.
SunPower, which sells its solar tiles to builders including Lennar Homes and Grupe Co., said it had orders to provide solar systems for 3,000 new homes in California in the coming years.
“The last time we saw interest in solar that was anything close to this was back in the 1980s, the first time there were federal tax credits for solar energy,” said Julia Judd Hamm, executive director of the Solar Electric Power Assn. and co-chair of the Solar Power 2007 conference underway at the Long Beach Convention Center. “But the numbers then aren’t even comparable to what we’re seeing now.”
Solar power is hotter than ever, helped by California’s ambitious Million Solar Roofs rebate program, federal tax credits and growing public and political support for renewable power of all kinds. The U.S. solar industry saw record growth last year, with California the largest market by far, according to a study by the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development. And 2007 is shaping up to be another big year, industry officials say.
The boom also has swelled the community of solar products and pitchmen.
Both will be on display at the solar conference and expo, which is expected to draw more than 11,000 attendees in Long Beach, up from 8,500 at last year’s event in San Jose, organizers say. Tonight, the show is free to the public from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Exhibitors will be hawking photovoltaic solar panels in all forms, with some companies showing off systems that embed the technology in carports, roofing tiles and other structures. Some will be targeting individual homeowners, while others will be angling for business with utilities that want to boost their use of renewable power.
California’s largest electric utilities, including Edison International’s Southern California Edison Co., PG&E Corp.’s Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric Co., have signed deals to build power-plant-sized solar facilities in and around the Mojave Desert or negotiated contracts with companies putting up such plants.
“Obviously, there are a nearly unlimited number of rooftops available in California and across the country” for individual solar power production, Hamm said. “At the same time, the whole concept of utility-scale plants is really just starting to gain momentum. So it’s going to be a combination of the two.”
California’s $3.3-billion Million Solar Roofs program is based on the notion that businesses and homeowners would install solar systems faster if the cost was partially offset by rebates and incentives. The goal is to create 3,000 megawatts of new solar power in California by 2017 and to build solar power systems into half of all new homes by 2015.
“We were at 1% in 2004, and we’re probably only at about 5% of all new homes right now,” said Del Chiaro of Environment California. “It’s good growth, but we’re going to have to ramp up quite significantly to get to that 50% mark.”
The solar power industry is drawing its share of star power.
Cable television mogul Ted Turner, who will deliver one of the keynote speeches launching the show today, teamed up this year with New Jersey solar developer Dome-Tech Solar to form a venture called DT Solar. Turner, chairman of Turner Enterprises Inc., said the renamed solar company would continue its focus on designing and installing large-scale projects and was expanding into California and other U.S. markets.
“Clean alternative energy is going to be a huge market because it’s going to be done all over the world and it’s got to be done right away. We’re out of time,” Turner said.
“Solar has probably the most potential because the sun is everywhere.”
Hamm and others are encouraged by the explosion of start-up companies and new products in the solar industry, as well as by the technology’s growing popularity with the public. But she knows solar is still a small fry in the electricity world.
“I don’t think anybody in the solar industry thinks that solar is the answer and is eventually going to take over,” she said. “Right now, solar electricity is about one-tenth to two-tenths of a percent of the entire U.S. energy mix. It’s barely even a dot on the radar screen.”
Ted Turner speaks at Solar Power 2007. Check it out.
http://www.tvworldwide.com/events/solar_power/070924/default.cfm?id=8871&type=wmhigh&test=0
As mentioned above, we are at the beginning stages of the solar revolution. Check out this article found at cnnmoney.com originally published by Investor’s Business Daily.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/IBD-0001-19959033.htm
Big Utilities Interested In Big Solar
October 01, 2007: 08:05 PM EST
Solar energy is getting bigger — literally.
More utilities are looking to build large solar power (OTCBB:SOPW) plants that can put out as much electricity as coal- or gas-fired plants, but run much cleaner.
“We’re at the start of something,” said Julia Judd, executive director at the Solar Electric Power Association.
Most of the buzz around solar energy has focused on smaller-scale projects, such as solar panels on rooftops. Several solar companies with highflying stocks, such as SunPower SPWR and JA Solar JASO, are in this field.
But interest is building for large, utility-scale solar projects. Such plants offer utilities a way to meet regulatory demands for more renewable energy. Governments worldwide are providing financial incentives for such projects.
“I don’t think (the large projects) are a pipe dream for utility scale renewable energy,” said Reese Tisdale, an analyst with Emerging Energy Research.
Larger-scale solar projects aren’t new. Some of these so-called solar thermal plants were built in the 1970s and 1980s. But these projects petered out in the 1990s as the price of traditional power fell and tax incentives dried up. In the U.S., a few solar thermal plants in Southern California remain today.
Times, though, again are changing.
“You’re weighing costs vs. environmental benefits,” said Keely Wachs, a spokesman with Pacific Gas & Electric. “Now, natural gas prices have gone up considerably. So solar is becoming more and more cost-effective.”
Essentially, solar thermal plants use mirrors to concentrate the heat of the sun on water or another liquid — which turns to steam, and, in turn, cranks turbines to produce electricity.
That’s in contrast to photovoltaic, or PV, technology. Companies like SunPower make solar panels that take the rays of the sun and convert them into electricity without water or a turbine. Though much cheaper to get up and running, PV solar produces power at a cost of more than 30 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared with about 20 to 22 cents per kilowatt for solar thermal plants, Tisdale says.
PV solar, though, has exploded in places like California and Germany thanks to heavy government incentives. Homeowners and companies such as Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) WMT and Google GOOG are putting PV panels on their roofs, using the energy created in-house and even putting some excess power back onto the grid.
In 2006, 1,700 megawatts of PV technology was installed worldwide, 20% more than the previous year, and the pace picked up this year, Tisdale says. One megawatt is enough for 750 to 1,000 homes.
Zero solar thermal watts went up last year, but 96 megawatts are expected to go live this year, Tisdale said, and there are plans to add some 5,000 megawatts of solar thermal capacity worldwide by 2012.
Take Pacific Gas & Electric. Late last month it said it would double its commitments to buy solar thermal electric power. It now plans to add 1,000 megawatts of new supply during the next five years. By comparison, it has less than 200 megawatts of PV projects planned, Wachs says.
In California, three of the state’s largest utilities have announced a handful of solar thermal projects that combined will almost meet state requirements for 3,000 megawatts (3 gigawatts) of renewable energy by 2016, Wachs says.
“You can get a big chunk of (power) from solar thermal, so it’s a quick, easy way to meet your regulatory requirements,” said the trade group’s Judd.
Nevada Power, a unit of Sierra Pacific Resources (NYSE:SRP) SRP, is the biggest reason for solar thermal growth this year, thanks to its 63 megawatt plant that opened in June. It makes up 60% of Nevada’s solar capacity, says Tom Fair, Sierra Pacific’s executive for renewable energy.
“In order to make a dent (toward meeting alternative energy requirements), we have to bring in large-scale facilities,” Fair said.
There are no publicly traded U.S. companies solely in the solar thermal plant business. There are a handful of privately held companies in this field. Also into solar thermal is one of the largest makers of renewable energy systems in the world: Spain’s Acciona, a $9 billion firm publicly traded in Europe.
The company sells both PV and solar thermal technology, but it’s made a bet on solar thermal plants for the U.S., says Peter Deprey, chief executive of Acciona Energy in North America.
“We see a lot of promise right now in solar thermal,” he said. “I talk to a lot of utilities. They all want larger-scale plants.”
Ausra, a Palo Alto, Calif., company that recently moved from Australia and landed $40 million in venture funding from Silicon Valley heavyweights Khosla Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers.
The company says it’s developed new technologies that could cut the cost of power produced by solar thermal plants to 8 cents per kilowatt. It uses batteries to provide power when the sun isn’t shining.
“We can be cost competitive,” said Robert Fishman, CEO of Ausra.
The company has projects under way in Australia and Portugal, but sees the southwestern U.S. as the Saudi Arabia of solar thermal.
Ausra founder Peter Le Lievre says the U.S. needs to invest in a better grid system to transport power from the Southwest to the rest of the country.
Still, Travis Bradford, an analyst with Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development, says the solar thermal announcements haven’t been convincing.
“There are a lot of plans,” he said. “Plans are a dime a dozen.”