Author Archives: nickt

As a part of his 2017 budget proposal, the President is asking for an increase in funding for clean energy research and development (R&D).

This proposal represents the United State’s part of an agreement that was reached at the recent Conference of The Parties in Paris. The U.S. and 19 other countries have pledged to double their clean energy R&D over the next 5 years.

It is vital that these new budget proposals for clean energy R&D get approved. We need more good news, especially in light of the recent temporary halting of the Clean Power Plan. The key word there is temporary, as that plan is vital in transitioning our nation to one that is eventually based on clean power.

Here are the numbers involved for Mission Innovation; the 2016 budget was $6.4 billion, 2017 – $7.7 billion, and $12.8 billion by 2021. Part of this budget – $1.85 billion over 5 years – will go towards funding an innovation incubator – ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy).

Energy Secretary, Ernest Moniz had this to say – “The President’s budget request would accelerate American energy innovation, increasing our energy and national security, and expand our commitment to science and research. It also reflects the DOE’s continuing commitment to maintain our nuclear deterrent, secure vulnerable nuclear material, and clean up our Cold War legacy.”

In addition to the general R&D effort, there is also proposal that calls for creating about 10 centers to work with labs, universities, industries, and investors to develop clean energy breakthroughs.

Other highlights of the budget proposal include investments in physical sciences, clean transportation, nuclear energy, carbon capture, energy efficiency, grid modernization, and transition of technologies to the market.

All of these investments is further proof that the current presidential administration is serious about creating a more sustainable energy future for America. Significant investments in R&D is essential to make sure that we make the most out of clean tech and clean energy opportunities.

It is imperative that the administration that takes control of the White House next year continues to support the advancement of clean energy sources like wind and solar power.

There’s reason for optimism because clean energy boasts multiple benefits on the national scale; it creates energy independence from other nations, creates jobs, reduces greenhouse gases, protects the environment, and is cost effective.

The Clean Power Plan and more spending for the research and development of clean energy will continue.

It’s the only way we can move forward.

New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, has proposed a plan to increase the amount of solar power on city buildings to five times what is currently installed.

De Blasio recently reconfirmed his support for renewables – “New York City is a global leader in taking on climate change. We have no choice but to move toward renewables and away from fossil fuels. The future of our city and the planet depends on it.”

The plan is to increase the total solar output with an additional 19 megawatts, from the approximately 5 megawatts currently installed. This will involve solar being added to an additional 88 city owned buildings from the current 35. About 66 of these buildings will be schools.

This is part of NYC’s green goal of reducing gas emissions a total of 80 percent by 2050.

It’s also an economically savvy goal as solar installations so far have saved the city about $1.2 million annually. New projects will be funded by power purchase agreements to avoid up-front costs.

It should go without saying that we need quite a few more forward-thinking political leaders of our nation’s cities. This really isn’t a radical move by de Blasio as the cost of wind and solar power are now competitive with fossil fuels, and as just mentioned, a money saver in this case.

Solar is already an easy decision in the Northeast, where electricity rates are much higher than the national average.

As one of the most influential cities in the world, the decisions that are made in NYC can have a considerable impact on many other cities in America. Other cities and towns are much more likely to look into solar power, even if the potential savings aren’t as significant as they are in the Northeast.

The big picture view here is that we are still in the very early stages for the adoption of solar power across America. It makes great financial sense in a high percentage of the country, especially in New York.

Unsuspecting homeowners are still falling victim to “no cost solar power system” and “free solar panels” sales pitches.

Like the old adage states – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Local news companies are in on it too, accepting ad revenue from solar companies and turning their solar services into a “news story.”

Many of the largest solar power companies in America are still utilizing highly questionable tactics to keep homeowners renters of power. “Free” and “no cost” should be major red flags, but these warnings apparently go unheeded. A common justification might sound like this – not everyone can acquire financing for a solar panel system, so these companies are helping people go solar. In reality, a homeowner has to pass credit to get a lease from one of these solar power companies. If someone’s credit situation is good enough for a lease, it’s good enough for a loan.

Instead of renting their power from utilities, these homeowners are now renting from the solar companies. What’s the point of being a homeowner if the value of ownership is not applied to your car, boat, and solar panel system as well?

So what’s the real cost of “no cost solar?” It’s tens of thousands of dollars.

Here’s a very realistic example of what happens when someone goes solar for “free”.

Before solar: Average monthly electric bill from utility – $180
After solar: Average monthly electric bill from utility – $5, Plus new solar power lease payment – $150

Total after solar payments: $155

An initial reaction might be – nice! – that’s a savings of $25/month.

However, homeowners who go this route never attempt to discover the actual cost of the solar panel system that they are renting and compare that to what their payments will add up to after 20 years.

After 20 years, that “no cost” solar power system has cost that homeowner at least $36,000. It’s at least that much because some of these solar leasing companies have rate escalators that actually increase the initial lease payment over the 20 year term.

The actual cost of an average sized solar panel system is no more than $20,000. Also, when homeowners acquire their own financing or pay cash, they can take advantage of the 30 percent tax credit, taking the final cost to about $14,000 ($14k for cash, a bit more if financed). Homeowners who sign long term leases give up their tax credit to the solar power company.

So how much sense does it make to go solar “for free” and end up paying at least $36,000 instead of getting your own financing and paying about $14,000? Not much at all, of course.

The big picture view is that more solar of any kind can be seen as a good thing. We need to increase our acceleration to a clean energy powered world. However, local economies and homeowners will benefit much more when solar is adopted the right way.

Please help spread the word that the real power of solar is in ownership.

It’s time we take the power back both literally and figuratively.

Solar is big in California. It represents approximately half of the nation’s total solar energy industry. Which is why a recent decision to protect fair net metering rules in California was an important win for homeowners in the state.

The California Public Utilities Commission voted 3-2 in favor of a fair net metering policy for homeowners. This decision allows homeowners to continue to sell their electricity back to utilities at retail rates.

However, the new program calls for solar customers to pay a one time interconnection fee of approximately $100. They must also pay about 2 cents per kilowatt hour of conventional energy consumed, which would add up to about another $10 per month. All-in-all, this does not put much of a dent into the massive savings possible with solar ownership.

This is really a win for fairness and equity. Electricity from solar panels is just as valuable as conventional electricity. Actually, its even more valuable since it is a source of clean energy as opposed to dirty fossil fuels. Solar also provides a value to utilities by helping to create energy and reduce stress on the grid during early peak usage times.

A common objection to net metering is that solar customers don’t pay for their share of grid costs and overall maintenance. Is it quite possible that these costs have already been paid for through decades of homeowners paying their power bills? Could this objection be the best defense of an industry attempting to prevent competition and a loss of customer base?

Should there be some concessions made to help provide for a smoother transition to clean energy sources? Absolutely. Solar customers can pay slightly more for the small amount of conventional energy that they use if that helps utilities prepare for a world in which distributed solar power is commonplace.

The bottom line is that homeowners who do their part to help create a more sustainable energy landscape should be rewarded, not punished.

The rest of the country will look to California for guidance on net metering, not Nevada. Renewable energy must be supported at both utility and residential scales.

There’s no doubt that solar power will play a large role in supplying energy for the United States in the coming years. Homeowners should be allowed to play a role in an emerging energy marketplace that is no longer controlled by a monopoly. This is the true environmental and economic potential that solar holds.

Anyone familiar with residential solar power understands how important net metering is.

Net metering is the policy that allows for solar customers to be compensated for the excess electricity that their systems generate during peak daytime hours. This allows homeowners to get the full value of their solar panel systems.

Unfortunately, some utilities are starting to pay considerably less money for this excess solar power that is fed into the grid. On top of that, they are looking to charge homeowners extra fees just because they have solar. This is what is currently happening in the state of Nevada which has led to the temporary halting of residential solar business.

Two points can be easily argued here; blocking net metering and charging extra fees is both a step backwards concering our collective need to reduce our CO2 emissions and is also a blatant monopolistic power move. Our local and world leaders are fully aware of the fact that we need to transition to clean energy sources as quickly as possible. Every sector will play its part and the residential one is no exception.

The second point is also clear – this is a power move by an industry that has had no competition for decades. This has nothing to do with “cost shifting” or solar customers not paying their fair share of grid costs. That’s misinformation used to distract people from the real story. This is simply an industry attempting to protect its monopolistic environment.

The good news is that viable energy storage solutions are starting to become available for homeowners who go solar. The word “viable” is key here. Battery storage is nothing new to the solar industry. Historically it’s been bulky, expensive, and typically only used in rural settings.

We’re now beginning to see many companies develop new residential energy storage systems that are much more home friendly (smaller-sized) and cost effective.

So what’s the connection between energy storage and net metering?

Instead of sending excess solar electricity to the grid, it gets stored onsite in a battery unit. A great feature of these systems is that they utilize smart technologies that allow them to store energy when it’s cheap so that it can be used later in the day when most utilities charge extra for energy. So instead of paying utilities for expensive peak energy, homeowners can draw upon less expensive energy stored in their battery systems.

Essentially, solar homeowners will no longer be at the mercy of what utilities want to pay them via net metering. They can now keep all of their solar power that is produced.

We are still very early days regarding home energy storage. While these systems are available right now, prices will come down in the coming years making it even more economically viable. However, it can already be cost effective for those who live in high-priced electricity states.

In the short-to-medium term, homeowners with solar plus energy storage will still be tied to the grid. There will most likely be even more resistance from utilities as they lose even more customers.

What is likely to happen? Homeowners and freedom of choice will win in the end. Utilities are obligated to reduce their CO2 emissions under the Clean Power Plan. Most of this reduction will happen with large utility-scale solar and wind projects. However, utilities must recognize that residential systems must also play a role.

The conclusion to come to here is that residential solar is looking as good as ever. Utility attempts to squash solar will only backfire as an increasing number of homeowners become more and more self-reliant.

Here’s to solar power and freedom of choice!

The Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan just won an important federal appeals court decision. Recent petitions to block the plan from major utilities have been rejected. Court proceedings are not over with, but this decision bodes well for clean power.

The Clean Power Plan is the primary piece of legislation for the President’s climate change initiative. It’s goal is to reduce toxic emissions from power plants by 32 percent over the next 15 years.

This decision is being applauded by environmentalists and fans of clean air everywhere. “We are confident that the plan will reduce carbon pollution and deliver better air quality, improved public health, and jobs across the country” – White House press secretary Josh Earnest.

A final review of the case is scheduled for the 2nd of June. It’s expected that the Clean Power Plan will be given the green light.

A total of 24 states have issues with the plan, citing it as an “unlawful power grab” and an “arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law.”

In reality, and especially in light of the decision arrived at during the recent climate conference in Paris, the Clean Power Plan represents just the beginning of what must be done. It does not call for a quick-as-possible transition to clean energy, just less emissions from the dirtiest energy sources.

Those opposed to the U.S. Court of Appeals decision in support of the clean power simply want to protect their profits and business model. This opposition does not come from the people, but rather those few currently in control of the fossil fuel industries.

A forced change is absolutely required here. The adoption of renewable sources of energy is largely ignored by the major power players in the energy industry, much like the auto industry’s weak offerings of all electric vehicles.

A commonly misguided objection to renewables is that they couldn’t possibly replace the amount of power that coal and nuclear deliver. To the contrary, the potential untapped solar power is more than capable of providing all of the energy that our society requires.

What about job loss?

Actually the opposite is the truth of the matter. The clean energy revolution will produce far more jobs than will be lost from the dirty energy industry.

So the bottom line becomes blatantly apparent – a wealthy few are attempting to preserve the status quo.

There’s hope on the horizon, thankfully. The cost for utility scale wind and solar power are becoming too low to ignore. Large utilities across American will begin to invest in wind and solar power if for no other reason that they will become the most cost effective choices.

The future reliability of solar energy just got another boost from the U.S. Energy Department. A total of $18 million has been pledged to help develop solar energy storage technologies for residential, commercial, and institutional use.

Reliability is the key word here because of solar’s inherently intermittent nature. Accessing solar power after sunset is the key to future growth for the solar industry.

This investment is a part of the larger SunShot Initiative which aims to make solar power affordable across the country by the end of the decade.

Energy Secretary, Ernest Moniz, knows how important this investment is – “Energy storage, solar PV, and smart grid technologies experienced incredible growth in 2015, and we expect they will play an increasingly important role in reaching the nation’s climate and clean energy goals in the coming years.”

The $18 million investment will specifically go towards 6 projects. Here’s a list and basic description of the projects involved.

• Commonwealth Edison Company – Based out of the Chicago area, this company will receive $4 million to research the combination of solar and battery storage along with smart inverters to identify variability issues.
• The Hawaiian Electric Company – Will receive about $2.4 million to further investigate the effects of the recent widespread adoption of solar power and their benefits to the utility.
• Carnegie Mellon University – Is awarded about $1 million to develop a system that incorporates smart inverters, automation controllers, smart thermostats, and energy storage solutions.
• Austin Energy – Gets $4.3 million to create and test an energy management platform that will enable a quicker growth of solar PV.
• Fraunhofer USA – Based in Boston, will receive about $3.5 million to develop a load management system capable of incorporating solar and storage technologies.
• The Electric Power Research Institue – Located in Knoxville, TN, the institute will get a little more than $3 million to work with a collection of utilities to develop end-to-end integration of solar plus storage and load management.

The specific part of the SunShot Initiative that is connected to this 6 project, $18 million program is called SHINES. SHINES stands for Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV. The overall goal of this program is to help make possible solar and energy storage technologies that are “scalable, secure, and cost-effective.”

These are vital programs for the continued use of increasing amounts of solar power in the near and long term. The nation’s grid must be able to effectively handle much larger amounts of distributed solar energy in the coming years. Energy storage will therefore become significantly more important to handle the extra available solar energy and to provide on demand energy long after the sun has set.

The government’s proactive response to a quickly growing solar industry will help ensure grid stability while helping to increase clean energy adoption across the country.

What this is all leading to is a much more democratized energy landscape. Utilities will start to play a smaller role as a provider of energy. Distributed energy sources like solar and small wind turbines will enable homeowners and businesses to contribute to the grid while benefiting financially.

Cost effective energy storage solutions will play a large role in the coming years.

A leading manufacturer of solar panels, South Korea’s LG Solar has recently announced plans to triple their current manufacturing capabilities by the year 2020.

A $435 million investment will take the company from their current production level of approximately 1 gigawatt per year to 3 gigawatts by 2020. Six more production lines will be installed to enable this growth to occur. This is a major cash infusion by the company and signifies the solar power industry’s overall growth expectations. Three gigawatts is enough to power 1 million homes.

Sang-Bong Lee, LG’s President, stated that “As a result of this investment, LG’s solar power business will be in a much stronger position to be a dynamic engine for growth moving forward.” The company sees significant solar adoption by mainstream consumers in the coming years.

LG Solar has been producing solar panels for more than 20 years now. Their past experience plus new investment expenditure puts them in a prime position to continue to be a leader in solar panel sales.

As big of a news story as this may seem, we’re still talking about the beginning stages of the solar power revolution. The bottom line is that 2020 is just a few years away. It will take decades for solar to dominate the energy landscape, both literally and figuratively.

In a way, this is a safe bet for LG. Solar insiders know that the industry is on a major upswing right now, which will only continue in the years to come. This investment by LG can be seen a necessary move to keep pace with other companies making similar commitments.

The company has a fairly popular brand in the American residential solar market. This new benchmark for the company will help ensure that it stays competitive with the other panel manufacturers. For more information about the company, check out the LG Solar page.

The solar industry has just hit a significant milestone. There are now more people employed in solar than the oil and gas industries. By the end of 2015, there were more than 209,000 people in the solar industry compared to 185,000 working in oil and gas related jobs.

This news, courtesy of The Solar Foundation – thesolarfoundation.org, is a part of the organization’s Solar Jobs Census and details some considerable solar growth. A key statistic is that the solar industry grew almost 12 times faster than the rest of the economy in 2015. Solar jobs accounted for 1.2 percent of all jobs created.

The industry added an impressive 35,000 jobs in 2015. This represents a growth of 20 percent over 2014 numbers.

Here are some key highlight from the report –

• One out of every eighty three new jobs were in solar – 1.2 percent of all new jobs.
• The industry provided high paying jobs with salaries ranging from $21 to $27 per hour on average.
• Diversity has increased within the industry. Women now make up 24 percent of those employed.
• A very high percentage of employees are given full time hours.
• An additional 610,650 ancillary jobs are supported because of solar.
• It is expected that the industry grows by another 15 percent by the end of 2016.

There are two major reasons why solar jobs are now leading oil jobs. The incredible growth in the solar industry is one reason. Another has to do with falling oil prices. Oil has fallen drastically the past 18 months. Prices going from $100 per barrel to $30 per barrel has hit the industry hard, forcing massive layoffs.

The largest percentage of these new solar jobs is in installation at approximately 120,000. This is 4 times the amount found in the next largest segment – manufacturing. Sales and Distribution, Project Development, and all others make up the last 60,000.

The Solar Foundation gathered data from more than 400,000 companies in the solar industry to develop their 2105 Census. This is a considerable collaboration from many construction and engineering, sales, and manufacturing companies.

Cost effective energy storage solutions will further propel the solar power industry. Solar will soon take its place as a primary source of energy once grid scale and distributed battery storage units are cost effective and viable.

These positive solar jobs numbers are just the beginning of major solar growth in the years to come.

In addition to many large-scale solar projects on the horizon, Texas utilities will be offering residential solar options as well.

More specifically, the state’s largest power company TXU Energy, has a plan to offer two different ways for homeowners to go solar. Of course, neither option is in the best interest of homeowners – more on that later.

2016 has arrived and utilities everywhere can no longer ignore the low cost of solar power. Texas is no exception. A decade ago, the story was about wind power. The utilization of wind in the state has been impressive. Wind supplied 18 percent of the state’s energy needs this past November.

As previously mentioned, TXU Energy will allow its customers to go solar two ways; allowing them to purchase solar energy from a nearby solar farm or having the utility install solar panels on their homes. The utility is working with large solar retailer, SunPower, for those residents that want panels on their homes.

This new residential solar program will help the state meet guidelines to cut powerplant emissions statewide. It is expected that 14 gigawatts of electrical capacity will be supplied by solar by 2030. This is enough energy for over 2 million homes. It is also more electricity than wind and natural gas would supply, combined.

So what’s the real story here?

The real story is one that will likely play out across the country real soon – electric utilities will do everything they can to keep their customers and maintain their monopoly. Solar power advocates, both large and small, will continue to fight for fairness in freedom of choice. We are not a country of monopolies. If we truly do live in a free market environment, consumers must be allowed to purchase whichever products and services that are readily available. Electricity should be no exception.

The best solar opportunity is in ownership, of course. This is how homeowners can go solar and save many thousands of dollars compared to utility supplied energy. Through utilities, homeowners will be able to use solar power but receive none of the considerable savings.

Moving forward, we can expect the rights of homeowners to be protected. The right to own rooftop solar panel systems and sell that power back to utilities through net metering must be ensured. Word will eventually spread to every homeowner that having a solar panel system is a much better financial decision than relying solely on a utility.

A worst case scenario is that utilities continue to fight net metering and win. Even in this situation, homeowners with their own solar panel systems will be just fine. The reasoning for this is that battery storage solutions will be cost effective in a few short years. Homeowners who become energy self sufficient through solar panels and battery storage systems will be able to do without the grid.

It can be easily argued that utilities in Texas and all across the country need to offer their own rooftop residential solar programs real soon or slowly become irrelevant.

Here’s to consumer choice and solar power… a powerful combination!