""""""""In the last six months of 2005, we sold and delivered a total of 16 projects in France, Germany and Spain."
-- Jon W. Slangerup, Solar Integrated CEO"""""""
Unisolar is the name.
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$3.2 Billion California Solar Initiative: Ready, Set ...
Breaking News
by Jesse Broehl, Editor, RenewableEnergyAccess.com
January 12, 2006
The California Solar Initiative plan's declining rebate structure for solar shows the breakdown between CEC and CPUC funding for next 11 years.
Photo: CPUC / CEC
San Francisco, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Today the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is widely expected to approve the California Solar Initiative (CSI), which will secure USD $3.2 billion for solar energy rebates in the state for the next 11 years.
The reaction to this major incentive has already sparked the first of many ripples in the marketplace. Publicly traded solar energy stocks posted gains yesterday in anticipation of the PUC's decision. More to Come: RenewableEnergyAccess.com Editor, Jesse Broehl, is attending the vote in San Francisco and will file a report from the scene.
The reaction to this major incentive has already sparked the first of many ripples in the marketplace. Publicly traded solar energy stocks posted gains yesterday in anticipation of the PUC's decision. Energy Conversion Devices rose 8.6 percent and California-based SunPower jumped 6 percent; Evergreen Solar increased 1 percent.
The scheduled vote follows a previous vote taken in December in which the PUC unanimously approved $300 million in interim funds for solar power systems installed in 2006. Today's vote will complete the package by formalizing and providing funds for the next decade, a long-term plan that is expected to bolster the solar industry in California and beyond.
Rebates beginning this year will stay at the $2.80 per watt mark and will gradually decline for the following ten years. By design, the rebates will decline by 10 percent per year through the duration of the program. The PUC rebates may also move from a capacity-based approach to a performance-based approach or some variation of the two. Details will be finalized over the coming months through stakeholder workshops.
The CSI plan effectively supplants two of the critical features that were present in the ill-fated "Million Solar Roofs Initiative" or SB 1, which faltered twice in the California legislature. It provides the long-term rebate structure, which is important to spur solar equipment manufacturers to increase production, and it provides funds totaling $3.2 billion for the plan ($2.8 billion from the CPUC and $400 million from the California Energy Commission).
The CSI plan does not include a mandate that new homes in California include solar energy, nor does it include any licensing changes to who is eligible to install solar projects in the state. It also does not require that solar installation work be done as so-called "prevailing wages," essentially union wages. All three items exposed and exacerbated deep opposition between the majority of the solar industry and certain union interests that backed some of the proposals.
The PUC policy is a top-down approach and will be passed independently of the legislature -- a major reason why its passage is considerably more secure than SB1, the previous legislative effort.
Industry experts predict the CSI will secure a stable solar market in California for the next 11 years that will lower the overall price of photovoltaics. The plan would be the largest solar energy policy ever enacted in the U.S. and the second largest in the world, behind Germany's renowned rebates.
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New York Governor Announces Plan for Renewable Energy
January 12, 2006
Albany, New York [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] New York Governor George E. Pataki opened the 2006 Legislative Session by delivering his twelfth and final State of the State Message. In the address, he called on New York to implement a host of renewable energy plans and incentives including making the entire state a tax-free zone for renewable energy companies.
"The farming community of New York has long supported the development of biofuels and reduced dependence on foreign fuels. We're glad to see it continue to be a top priority with the governor."
-- John Lincoln, New York Farm Bureau president Other measures included making renewable fuels available at service stations all across the state, starting with the Thruway and to make the renewable fuels used in automobiles "tax-free" throughout the entire State. To help meet this fuel demand, the Governor called for the establishment of ethanol refineries in the state.
Two new biofuel production facilities are already in various stages of development in Fulton and Seneca Falls, according to the New York Farm Bureau, which congratulated the Governor on his proposals.
"The farming community of New York has long supported the development of biofuels and reduced dependence on foreign fuels," said John Lincoln, president of New York Farm Bureau. "We're glad to see it continue to be a top priority with the governor."
The Governor also called for the development of efficient hybrid vehicles that can actually be plugged in at home or alternatively run on renewable biofuels. So-called plug-in hybrids have been seen as a way to incorporate efficient hybrid electric vehicles with the power from distributed renewable energy projects like solar photovoltaic systems on homes and businesses.
Many, if not all, of the measures would need to be accomplished through the State Legislature but the Governor's suggestions help give them weight moving forward.
"Governor Pataki knows that wind power and other renewable energy projects will help clean our environment and create hundreds of jobs, particularly in upstate New York," said Charles C. Hinckley, CEO of Noble Environmental Power, a wind power project development company. "We applaud the Governor for his vision and look forward to working with the state and our local government partners to achieve this worthy goal."
Noble Environmental has seven projects planned for construction in 2006 and 2007, totaling more than 700 MW. Four of these projects are on schedule for completion in 2006 -- Clinton, Ellenburg and Altona in the North Country, and Bliss in Wyoming County. All seven projects are currently in the New York State Independent System Operator's interconnection queue.
Included in the Governor's comments for renewable energy use was also the suggestion the state create "shovel-ready" sites and help finance advance "clean" coal power plants.
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