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Renewable Energy World
March 14, 2012
by Jennifer Runyan
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- It wasn't too many years ago when the installing more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar PV in the U.S. in one year was a pipedream. But according to the latest U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, in 2011 the industry didn't just eek out more than 1 GW of solar: it blew that threshold away.
According to GTM research and Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), authors of the report, the U.S. installed 1,855 MW (or 1.86 GW) of solar in 2011 and is expected to install a full gigawatt more than that in 2012: 2.8 GW. The report points to two important factors that drove the massive amount of installation in the U.S. First, declining module prices meant that overall system prices dropped 20 percent. Second, expiring solar power incentives, such as the 1603 Grant in Lieu of Tax Credit forced developers to begin projects before the end of 2011. In the fourth quarter of 2011 alone, the industry installed 755 MW, up 115 percent from Q4 2010.
GTM Research and SEIA estimate the U.S. solar market’s total value surpassed $8.4 billion in 2011.
Excerpt:
The sensational headlines over the past two months regarding the Solyndra bankruptcy could give the false impression that the U.S. solar energy industry is the primary beneficiary of energy-related federal subsidies and tax breaks. This is simply not the case.
Broader perspective is in order. ...
Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals alike have generally supported the development of a diverse energy portfolio because energy security, reliability and economic development are in our nation's best interests.
The facts are clear. For decades, America's petroleum industry has relied on favorable tax, royalty and resource policies specifically designed to encourage oil and gas exploration. Support for the coal industry dates back to the 19th century and helped fuel America's industrial revolution. And without the liability shield afforded by the Price-Anderson Act, nuclear energy would not be providing 20% of our energy production today.
There is no doubt that America's need for energy will grow in the coming years. Advocates for a responsible "all of the above" approach should encourage the continued development and use of all our domestic energy resources. In this regard, solar can make a significant contribution.
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Unlike other energy sources that have received permanent support for decades, the current federal solar tax credit has been in place only since 2006 and is scheduled to expire in 2016. But in this short time, the policy has been an overwhelming success, producing a strong return on investment to the taxpayer and the American economy.
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Here Comes the Sun
New York Times, Nov. 6, 2011, Paul Krugman
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We are, or at least we should be, on the cusp of an energy transformation, driven by the rapidly falling cost of solar power. That’s right, solar power.
If that surprises you, if you still think of solar power as some kind of hippie fantasy, blame our fossilized political system, in which fossil fuel producers have both powerful political allies and a powerful propaganda machine that denigrates alternatives.
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And now for something completely different: the success story you haven’t heard about.
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These days, mention solar power and you’ll probably hear cries of “Solyndra!” Republicans have tried to make the failed solar panel company both a symbol of government waste — although claims of a major scandal are nonsense — and a stick with which to beat renewable energy.
But Solyndra’s failure was actually caused by technological success: the price of solar panels is dropping fast, and Solyndra couldn’t keep up with the competition. In fact, progress in solar panels has been so dramatic and sustained that, as a blog post at Scientific American put it, “there’s now frequent talk of a ‘Moore’s law’ in solar energy,” with prices adjusted for inflation falling around 7 percent a year.
This has already led to rapid growth in solar installations, but even more change may be just around the corner. If the downward trend continues — and if anything it seems to be accelerating — we’re just a few years from the point at which electricity from solar panels becomes cheaper than electricity generated by burning coal.
And if we priced coal-fired power right, taking into account the huge health and other costs it imposes, it’s likely that we would already have passed that tipping point.
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Key Findings:
- Grid-connected PV installations in Q2 2011 grew 69 percent over Q2 2010.
- The U.S. now has over 3,100 MW of installed solar power, enough to power 630,000 homes.
- New Jersey’s commercial PV installations exceeded California’s for the first time.
- The U.S. remains poised to install 1,750 megawatts of PV in 2011, double last year’s total, enough to power 350,000 homes.
The U.S. photovoltaic market will become the largest market for annual PV installations in 2013 - overtaking Germany, Italy and Japan, according to a new report from ABI Research. ...
An estimated 900 MW of installed capacity came online during 2010 in the U.S., and that number is expected to almost double this year. Renewable energy technologies are receiving a strong push in the U.S., with utility, industrial and commercial PV installations expected to drive growth. ...
The U.S. PV market is set to witness explosive growth over the next few years, with a forecast of 5 GW installed during 2013. This is particularly good news for companies such as First Solar, SunPower Corp. and Solar World, ABI Research says.
Setting renewable energy mandates for utilities has been the big policy hammer that forces the use of wind, solar and other sources of cleaner power in the U.S. The pressure has intensified in California now that utilities are required to meet a 33 percent mandate by 2020 and maybe higher.
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By the end of 2010, Southern California Edison achieved 19.4 percent, PG&E 17.7 percent and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) 11.9 percent, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. Not all contracts signed by the utilities before 2010 have become reality. Some developers couldn’t raise the money and had to sell the development rights or go out of the business all together.
Gov. Jerry Brown, elected last November, signed into law the new mandate of 33 percent by 2020 only in April. The move received loud applause from renewable energy advocates, of course, and set down a new race for utilities to buy more renewable energy. ...
According to the most recent issue of the Monthly Energy Review by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), renewable energy has passed a milestone, as domestic production is now greater than that of nuclear power.
Nonprofit research organization SUN DAY Campaign says that during the first quarter of 2011, renewable energy sources provided 2.245 quadrillion Btus of energy, or 11.73% of U.S. energy production. Energy production from renewable energy sources in 2011 was 5.65% more than that from nuclear power, which provided 2.125 quadrillion Btus and has remained largely unchanged in recent years. Energy from renewable sources is now 77.15% of that from domestic crude oil production, with the gap closing rapidly, the organization adds.
Solar power accounted for 1.16% of production. Renewable energy's electrical output increased by 25.82% in the first three months of 2011, compared to the first quarter of 2010. Solar-generated electricity increased by 104.8%, according to EIA data cited by SUN DAY Campaign.