COSEIA Gets $491,000 Grant to Cut Red Tape and Costs for Solar Installations

Congrats to the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association (COSEIA) for getting almost half a million dollars from the Fed to devise ways to cut costs from solar module installations. This will be money well spent considering that 40% of the solar module installation costs are due to things such as permitting, design, and installation. COSEIA will also be partnering with reputable institutions such as the Rocky Mountain Institute and the American Solar Energy Society.

Greece Bets on Solar Power As a Debt Solution

This is just the type of outside the box thinking that I can really appreciate. Greece has racked up a substantial amount of debt in the European Union (EU) and in my mind there is really no way of repaying via traditional "cutting off the nose to spite the face" methods (i.e. raising revenues through taxes on folks without jobs or with stagnant wages or cutting spending through "austerity" measures like reducing or eliminating pensions). Greece is both sunny and beautiful. There are only so many tourists (and revenue) that can come through each year to see the beauty of Greek history and its people. So the smart people of Greece think they can capitalize on something that they have an abundance of - the sun by capturing it and exporting it to other EU countries. Cool huh?

Westinghouse Solar Introduces Low-Cost, DIY Home Solar Power Kits

The price of solar is perpetually dropping. It's a beautiful thing. Because of this Westinghouse has developed a simple low-cost solar photovoltaic kit for your home. They come in various sizes from a small one-panel experimental kit to a 20-panel kit that can satisfy about 70% of the homeowners electricity. I hope to see solar panels on every home in the United States. But remember to make sure that your home is as energy efficient as possible before you supplement your power with solar PV or thermal.

Solar-powered Homes Remain a Distant Dream for Many in the U.S.

Although the title of this article sounds a bit doom and gloom it really isn't. Capital today is flowing towards utility-scale renewable energy projects. This is a good thing. I'd rather have more renewable fuels in my utility's portfolio than fossil fuels. However, as the article states there are other options besides the traditional owner-financed solar photovoltaic (PV) array on a residential rooftop. The market for leasing solar panels is growing fast. This is an attractive option for those homeowners who can't afford the upfront capital costs for PV modules, inverter, and the labor to install it. However, for those that like to buy rather than lease, the cost of PV is dropping each year. PV will be competitive with traditional fossil fuels soon.

The last thing I'd like to mention, which always seems to get overlooked in renewable energy discussions and articles is something less sexy, but is the best bang for your buck - energy efficiency. Making a residential or commercial building use the least amount of energy possible is where the smart money is. A quicker return on investment (ROI) can be realized by completing energy efficiency projects such as caulking, insulation, low-flow shower heads, Energy Star appliances, efficient HVAC systems, and the cheapest of measures - behavioral change (turning off lights when leaving the room or taking shorter showers). Once the building is enhanced to use the least amount of energy possible, there is a really good chance that you won't need as many solar PV modules on your roof and therefore won't need to finance as much. Energy efficiency is low-hanging fruit.

Solar Industry Learns Lessons in Spanish Sun

There are lots of lessons to be learned from the boom and bust solar market in Spain. This article in the New York Times highlights what can go wrong when a market is solely dependent on government subsidies. However, emerging markets need subsidies at first to create stability in that market. Even though the U.S. is behind Europe in terms of renewable energy production, I think we are in the position to shape the global solar energy market towards sustainable growth. So read the article and leave your suggestions on what are the best approaches the U.S. can do, from a public and private perspective, to assist and help shape the emerging solar industry.

Solar Company Launches Rental Program in Boulder

A few weeks ago I spoke about SolarCity's efforts to bring solar leasing to Colorado (read: SolarCity's Solar System Leasing Option Coming to Colorado). Now we have a second firm (I'm sure there are more) that is bringing a solar leasing program to Boulder. SunRun from California is now offering folks in Boulder the ability to rent solar panels at a fixed rate for a certain period of time. This solar leasing market is interesting to me. Anybody have some info on the financials of this type if plan? Is it similar to buying or leasing a car? I'm not a finance guy, but at first glance I think that leasing allows people to get something that they would otherwise be unable to afford in addition to a reduced risk. Are government tax credits and incentives from utilities just not enough to justify an outright purchase of a solar array for your rooftop? Curious minds would like to know. Any finance peeps out there?

New Solar Power Plant in San Luis Valley

I know it's only a press release from the Governor Ritter's office, but there is exciting news in the San Luis Valley. Xcel Energy and SunPower Corp. are going to build what is North America's second-largest high-efficiency photovoltaic solar plant. It'll be 17 megawatts of pure photovoltaic love. And there is already a solar thermal plant down there. Good work Xcel and SunPower.

Midwest Research Institute Will Develop Solar Test Facility

Excellent. Midwest Research Institute (MRI) is going to build a solar test and evaluation facility in Aurora, Colorado. This will help universities and solar businesses bring their solar technologies to the market faster. This is good news for the RE industry and for Colorado.

Thin-Film Solar Set to Take Market Share From Crystalline Solar PV

This may help provide some competition to the traditional crystalline PV panels (which may help reduce prices of the crystalline panels! See the article below for bad news on prices). Thin-film solar is lighter weight, and easier to apply to existing surfaces than traditional PV panels, which are bulky and heavy. Even though the efficiency of thin-film solar is much lower than the traditional PV panels, you are able to install the thin-film just about anywhere and in mass quantities. Check out this site for a simple description of thin-film solar.

Solar Panel Prices Might Not Decline As Much As Thought

Darn. We could get the double whammy of no extended federal tax credits and PV prices not falling as quickly as expected. This won't help the individual homeowner who'd like to offset his/her electricity needs with some PV. I was looking forward to price decreases in the next couple of years so that my ROI would be quicker. Alas, I guess we'll have to wait.

Saharan Sun to Power European Supergrid

The idea that the ever burning sun in the Sahara could be home to PV and CSP energy plants and provide Europe all of its power needs is gaining steam again (no pun intended). Some of the challenges are redoing the grid by installing transmission lines that do not lose power over long distances. Transmitting power in DC will allow for transmission of power over longer distances with minimum power loss. However the current, which is usually created in AC, would have to be converted to DC first. These power inverters tend to be expensive.

Another challenge, with respect to Europeans getting their power from the Sahara in Africa, was addressed in my previous post, "Renewable OPEC: Careful What You Wish For."

I am glad that the Europeans are discussing the generation of their power from renewable means rather than falling back on the old dirty reliables, coal and nuclear.

BrightSource's Novel Solar Thermal Power Concept for California Heats Up

I think it's time to make concentrated solar power (CSP) a household word. I really do believe that this technology will help us dramatically reduce our need coal-fired electricity plants. Now you'd still have to pay a utility for your electricity needs from this renewable source, but if you get an energy audit to see where your property currently stands with respect to energy consumption, and then add some solar panels, a solar hot water heater, solar air heater, and great insulation, you can radically drop the amount of money paid to the utility. CSP plants are going to do wonders for the United States' electricity consumption.

Speaking of CSP plants (sorry for my little rant above) it looks as though a company out of California wants to build a 900 megawatt CSP plant. And this company has a new method of making the solar thermal process more efficient. Apparently the founder (Arnold Goldman) of this company (BrightSource) was the first to pioneer CSP plants in the 1980s, but the low cost of oil put him out of business. Anyway, check out the article on Mr. Goldman's new CSP method here.

Solar Panel Subsidies Not Smart, Says German MP

Interesting perspective on solar subsidies from Germany's MP, Hans Josef Fell. And Germany should know; 14% of their energy production is from renewable energy (compared to about 7% in the United States. So the main gist of the MP's arguement is that subsidizing solar panels themselves prevents the solar power market from having any sort of reliability or longevity. In other words, the MP says, instead of giving rebates to consumers for solar panels pay the consumer a high price for the excess energy sold back to the grid. Never thought about it that way. That's worth exploring with respect to U.S. policy.

Renewable OPEC: Careful What You Wish For

Not that I'm concerned that Europe is on the right track with respect to producing a majority (if not all) of their energy needs in the future with renewable energy (RE), but this opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal brings up an interesting conundrum. I've heard before (and even blogged about it) that African deserts can provide more than enough solar energy to provide Europe with their electricity needs. When I first heard this, my altruistic (albeit naive) nature immediately leaped to the conclusion that any nation that had better means to produce various forms of RE would provide that energy to other nations at a lower cost, rather than allowing market forces to take over and adjust the price. Silly, silly me. I forgot to put into the equation the world's warm and fuzzy embrace of capitalism.

So, the conundrum is that Europe can only produce so much of their energy consumption with RE. If Europe wants to stay true to their carbon reduction commitments, then they will have to purchase the rest of their energy needs from "renewable energy" producing nations such as Algeria (mentioned in the op-ed); nations that have the best means to produce solar generated power. It also brings to mind that the transmission of this "desert solar power" will have to tie into Europe's electricity grid. That means that Europe would hypothetically be at the mercy of a cartel of RE producing nations (like the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, i.e. OPEC, is with petroleum consuming nations today). In other words, these RE producing nations, like OPEC today, could hold Europe's collective energy fate in their hands (in the form of price fluctuations and even transmission "issues"). I'm not suggesting that future renewable energy producing nations would hold Europe hostage, but I am saying that the ability for all nations to be completely self-sufficient with respect to their energy production and consumption would be difficult if production is concentrated in the hands of a few nations, like what happens under OPEC. As an example today, if OPEC sneezes then the world's oil markets shiver. If anything the idea of a "Renewable OPEC," in light of what happens with the petroleum OPEC, certainly brings up some interesting, eerily familiar geopolitical ramifications for the future of RE production and consumption.

The Gift of Solar

Well written article on where solar needs to go in the next decade if it is to be a viable option to compete with/replace coal and natural gas in the marketplace. Solar technology is here and improving everyday. Now we need to figure out how make it more efficient and figure out how to store it better and for longer periods of time. With bright folks (see MIT) working on these issues I have reason to believe that we can solve these problems within the next decade. Exciting isn't it?

Barriers to Solar Energy's Blockbuster Promise

Nice level-headed article on the state of solar photovoltaics (PV) today. I know I get antsy sometimes with respect to PV and want it now and want it cheap. But there are some other positive renewable energy technologies out there that are inexpensive and overlooked. Yes I want solar panels on every house in the Denver metro area, but at what expense to the market and to the consumer? Silicon production is not up to speed and today cannot meet the entire demand for PV. Tax credits may expire at the end of this year. The public hasn't been educated enough on the use of renewable technologies in the home. And legislation is all over the map, state by state. I know this will work itself out, as there are many intelligent and passionate people studying and working on these issues in every state. Bottom line is that we (me!) need to have some patience while consumers; private enterprise; and local, state, and federal governments work out some smart renewable energy policy.

Solar Energy Big Bucks in 2012

Via The Earth Times we have a press release that says the solar energy industry will be a 12 billion bucks business by 2012. Fire up kids, solar energy is becoming a giant.