Can Solar Power Revive the US Manufacturing Sector?
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 11.24.06
Perhaps not all by itself, but, according to the Washington Post, the production of solar panels for homes and businesses has proven itself a job-creator. BP Solar, for instance, plans to double capacity in its Frederick, Maryland, plant, which will mean the creation of 70 new jobs. In the three years since launching the solar service company SunEdison in Washington, DC, owner Jigar Shah has hired 150 people. While neither of these examples illustrate a widespread rebirth of some American manufacturing industries, the ongoing market demand for solar panels could mean expanding opportunities for workers who've had to trade high-paying jobs for less appealing (and worse paying) employment in the service sector:
Many of the jobs are good ones, in contrast to the low-wage food-service jobs that have bolstered employment statistics without improving quality of life for the people who hold them. "You're producing high-quality manufacturing jobs when others are moving out of the United States," [president of the Solar Energy Industries Association Rhone] Resch said. "If you look at the next high-tech growth industry in the United States, it can and should be solar energy."Some in the industry are even convinced that the relatively long life span of conventional solar panels could make the technology economically competitive without government subsidies; others, such as the Apollo Alliance, claim that "...a $30 billion federal program could create 3.3 million jobs over 10 years." No one expects that level of investment from the feds, but states and local governments are backing the young industry, and seeing signs of economic growth as a result. The numbers aren't huge, but to point to exciting possibilities for job growth, more energy independence, and a cleaner environment to boot. Cue up "The Future's So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades)"... ::Washington Post
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The biggest problem with photovoltaics has been financing, not the total economics. Solar has a massive upfront cost to fabricate and install the solar electric system but there are no fuel costs and minimal maintenance costs over the system's 25-50 year life. Citizenre is quickly proving that we can successfully sell solar through system rentals on 25 year contracts that are priced at rates comparable to or less than most electric utilities. Between the 500 MW / yr photovoltaic plant manufacturing jobs and the sales force, the company will likely generate >1000 jobs between Nov 1 2006 and the end of 2007. I don't think that there is any other industry where one company could generate new growth in 2007 sufficient to support 500 to 1000 quality sales jobs.
I checked out Citizenre and it's an interesting model even if it's extraordinarily capital intensive on their part. If I understand it correctly, they offer two benefits to the homeowner.
The first is saving money by locking in the owner's current electricity rate. They can do this because the price of the electricity from their solar panels will never go up but it certainly will from the utilities, especially when carbon taxes are eventually instituted society-wide.
The second is making a dent in global warming. (The website could stand to make these benefits more obvious. A website that does a better job stating the benefits very quickly is www.solarcity.com.)
The previous poster is correct in that financing is a big barrier and his model is definitely welcome.
In fact, Citizenre's model (which seems to be the Energy Services Company model or ESCO applied to homeowners) might just handle the split-incentive problem. The split-incentive problem occurs with leased business space or with home renters. The lessee/renter doesn't want to pay for energy efficiency or solar panels because they don't know how long they will be in the leased space. The property owners don't want to pay for capital upgrades because they pass along the monthly operating costs to the lessee anyway. They have little incentive (other than global warming) to tie up their capital.
In Citizenre's model, all one has to do is get the property owner to agree to "rent out" their roof. A potential upside can occur if the state changes the regulatory structure to allow any excess electricity generated to be sold back to the utility at the prevailing customer rate. (That's not the case in California right now where one gets no credit for any excess electricity generated. The best a homeowner can do is receive a bill for $0 by their utility.)
With such a regulatory change, Citizenre could conceivably be in the position of having thousands of tiny solar plants throwing off lots and lots of cash.
Very interesting indeed.
Now, if we can get thin film that doesn't require silicon....
Harnessing the energy from the sun is the best alternative and renewable source of energy. The sun is totally and 100% environmentally friendly.
The only drawback to solar paower is the initial investment which is at present is not practical econoomically to many consumers.
If advanced manufacturing techniques are developed to produce cheaper and more effecient solar panels, time will come most houses will be having roofs made of solar panels and that would help a lot in making a better and pollution free world.
Related Sites:
http://greenfuelpower.blogspot.com
http://autohaven.blogspot.com
http://gohybrid.blogspot.com
why is the silicon a problem? its such a common resource that it has to be one of the least environmentally harmful mined substances on the planet. its why the continents float.
Why are people not talking about thin film solar panels more? The whole world will change when we get the panels down to 1 dollar a watt. www.nanosolar.com if you dont know about this. The simple fact of people think its still ok to sell 180 watt panels for 790 bucks is insane. The world is changing and the first people to push out thin film panels to joe homeowner will change everything. We need more companys to build thin film panels and we need it yesterday. Id open my wallet in a second if someone would offer me thin film system thats affordable. I have started a solar energy bank account years ago where i scrap off some cash and toss it in there waiting for the day price per watt goes down. Wake up thin film companys your losing money! I also find it funny that nanosolar sold its whole 2009 panel run to germany. We need a company that puts america first. Germany is more windy than sunny. Hello! The only hope I have is nanasolar is using this money to research better and more efficent panels that they will sell to america. otherwise they are traitors.