Study Shows Solar Can Provide 10% of US Needs by 2025

A new study released this month has projected that solar power could provide 10% of US electricity generation by the year 2025, with the active participation of electric utilities.

The study, the Utility Solar Assessment (USA) Study, was jointly produced by research firm Clean Edge and the non-profit organization Co-op America.  It also found that solar power is likely to reach cost parity with fossil fuel-based electricity in most of the USA within a decade.

The study, based on interviews with more than 30 solar, utility, financial and policy experts, can be downloaded at www.cleanedge.com and www.solarcatalyst.org.
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Does Nuclear Belong in the Renewable World, Part II

Last month, in connection with an article about skyrocketing cost estimates for nuclear plant construction, we raised the topic of nuclear energy’s place in the world of renewables (as in, does it have one?) and in a low-carbon future.  You sent us a wide range of responses, of which only about 15% stood up for the technology.  Given the focus of Solar Nation, this can’t be called surprising.

It’s worth reiterating here that our emphasis at Solar Nation is on supporting solar power development, not on disparaging other power sources.  There are plenty of groups and web sites who take that latter tack, and we’ll let them do that.  Our complaint only comes when Government policy (and subsidies) favor other sources to the detriment of solar.  With that said, let’s look at your arguments.
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The Mixture As Before

We’ve come to the conclusion that while there’s a lot of talk going on in Congress, the closest it will come, in the immediate future, to bringing us renewable energy is if those magnificent high ceilings designed by Thomas Walter are replaced by hot air capture devices, perhaps linked to a Stirling engine.

Yes, there’s a lot of superheated air rising from the chamber floors these days—not an unusual occurrence in itself, but now it seems to be taking the place of real debate on issues of vital importance to our energy future. When Senate Majority Leader Reid resurrected the Energy and Tax Extenders Act of 2008 (HR6049) for another cloture vote last week we assumed, not unnaturally, that this would lead to some serious back-room bargaining between individuals from House and Senate, so that agreement could be reached before taking up Senate floor time with a nugatory vote.

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The Numbers Game

That’s what it’s felt like, as we’ve seen Congress try time and again to pass legislation that will rationalize our use of energy and promote development of solar and other clean technologies. Each number represents a different attempt over the last few months to kick-start the process. Each number represents a bill put together by House or Senate, brought to the appropriate floor, debated, passed, then torn to shreds by the other chamber.

Let’s start, arbitrarily, with HR6—last year’s energy bill—that eked out money for corn ethanol and improved the CAFE standards without doing more than token funding for solar power. In February of this year, those measures stripped out from HR6 resurfaced in the economic stimulus bill, HR5140, only to be pushed back down underwater; Congress must have felt the government checks to be sent to taxpayers under this bill were stimulating enough. In the same month we saw HR5351, a stand-alone bill worth some $20 billion in clean energy tax credits. The Senate shook its head.
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Does Nuclear Belong in the Renewable World?

You haven’t heard much from Solar Nation on the subject of nuclear power—pro, con, or impartial. That’s not because we don’t harbor our own views on the use of the technology, but because our focus here is on promoting the positive aspects of solar power, not publicizing the negative aspects of any competitors. Besides, we’re aware that many solar citizens out there may also be strong supporters of nuclear energy as a relatively carbon-free power source.

But we felt it was worth bringing to your attention a report in the May/June issue of EnergyBiz magazine by Pam Radtke Russell, which strongly suggests that the economic underpinnings of the pro-nuclear argument are sagging. Recent cost estimates for two separate nuclear plant proposals in Florida have shown an increase of more than 100% over industry figures that are just two years old. Combined with similar estimates from such sources as Moody’s Investor Service, these figures—attributable largely to rising costs of metals, forgings and labor—represent a significant threat to the viability of the form of power once touted as “too cheap too meter.”

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National Day of Action for Clean Energy: May 20th

Tuesday May 20th is the National Day of Action for Clean Energy. It’s a day on which companies, industry groups, advocacy organizations, faith-based coalitions and many others are making a joint effort to urge Congressional legislators to extend clean energy tax incentives (credits) without delay.

You can find the Solar Nation Action Alert here.

To recap: Congress has spent nearly a year debating how to pay for these expiring tax incentives, which make it cheaper for individuals and companies to install renewable energy systems and build energy-efficient buildings. The House doesn’t want to pass any legislation without an identified source of funding, and the Senate won’t consider raising taxes elsewhere to fund the clean energy provisions.

Call it stalemate, call it deadlock, call it a stand-off; the bottom line is, the clean energy revolution is being strangled. Every day that passes without an extension places more green jobs and investment at risk* and slows down our transition to a clean energy economy.

*Estimated at 119,000 jobs and $20 billion. The report can be seen here.
The bill now working its way through Congress is HR6049; it’s summarized here.

A Way Around the Congressional Impasse?

Have you noticed the fatal flaws in the year-long string of unsuccessful attempts in Congress to keep tax credits alive for solar installations?

In brief, they’ve all been about funding: the bills either targeted oil & gas industry revenues to pay for the tax credits, or they had no source of funding at all. So they all ran into roadblocks manned, respectively, by Senate Republicans or House Democrats. To this day, no-one is willing to budge an inch from their position, even with legislation as important as this.

This week we heard something different from Capitol Hill. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi are urging the House Ways & Means Committee to support a small ($6-8 billion) renewable energy tax extenders package that would include Solar and that would be funded, not from the oil & gas industry but from the reporting of credit-card transactions to the IRS.

It’s a new and potentially winning strategy, but it could still fail if House and Senate Republicans–particularly those on the Finance and Ways & Means committees–try to reject the package out of hand. If they indicate that they are leaning this way, House Democrats could very well be discouraged from moving forward with this innovative approach.

We’re targeting just ten senators on the Finance Committee and three representatives on the Ways & Means Committee*, and if you’re a constituent of one of them we urgently need you to call their Washington office and make sure they understand what’s at stake here.

CAN YOU HELP?

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Once again, Solar getting dropped. Worth getting mad about.

Congressional leadership has done an about-face. After a year of unsuccessful attempts to get Congress to authorize long-term extensions to solar energy investment tax credits by enclosing the measures in energy bills and economic stimulus packages, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid had been planning to include these measures in the Iraq War supplemental legislation. We now understand that they may decide to drop the renewable energy provisions from this bill.

This is a serious setback and will mean great hardship for the solar energy community. Spending $110 billion for security in Iraq without spending a dime on energy security in the United States does nothing to advance us as a renewable energy society.

Read more and take action here!

Solar Tax Credits Redux

So much for that idea…..

After three unsuccessful tries by the House of Representatives in the last year, the U.S. Senate made its own attempt this month to pass legislation to extend tax credits for renewable energy installations and energy efficiency. The bill introduced by U.S. Sens. Cantwell and Ensign became an amendment to the Senate’s comprehensive housing bill (HR 3221), and passed the Senate by 88 votes to 8* on April 10. Included in the bill were $6.6 billion in tax credits for renewables, and a lifting of the $2000 cap on residential solar installations.

What was not included in it, unfortunately, was a method of funding the tax credits, and we now hear that the House has no intention of passing a bill without such “pay-fors”.

With earlier attempts the initial impetus came from the House, and the stumbling block for the Senate was always the source of funding for the tax credits–reducing some of the government subsidies enjoyed by the oil and gas industry. In this case it was a Senate-originated bill with no identified source of funding, and a week after it passed the upper chamber, that lack of revenue base sealed its doom. (more…)