Solar Energy Getting Hotter
The New York Times posted a very informative article on the solar power industry in California last week: A Green Energy Industry Takes Root in California .
There is serious reason for optimism in solar. And the timing may be as close to perfect as possible: global warming is on everyone’s mind, the price of oil is escalating and green businesses are flourishing.
Alternative energy is generating excitement, not only among consumers, but businesses and venture capital firms.
There has been a burst of investments in alternative energy, causing strong growth in the solar sector. Leading companies include:
* SolarCity (Foster City): one of California’s fastest-growing solar installation companies.
* SunPower (San Jose): makes the silicon-based cells that turn sunlight into electricity.
* Integrated Solar (Los Angeles): developed a low-cost approach to integrating photovoltaic panels directly into the roofs of commercial buildings.
* Nanosolar (San Jose): recently started making photovoltaic cells in a 200,000-square-foot factory in San Jose. The company said the first 18 months of its capacity has already been booked for sales in Germany.
* eSolar (Pasadena): builds systems that concentrate sunlight from reflecting mirrors. Google has invested around $10 million in eSolar.
And did you know (facts from this article)?
* Eight of more than a dozen of the nation’s companies developing photovoltaic cells are based in California. Seven of those are in Silicon Valley.
* In 2007, 100 megawatts of solar generating capacity was installed in California, about a 50% increase over 2006 (according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group).
* Last November, Pacific Gas and Electric announced construction (to be completed in 2010) of a 177-megawatt solar thermal plant to be built in San Luis Obispo. The plant will generate power for more than 120,000 homes.
State Government involvement should also help to spur solar growth in the state:
The (alternative energy) industry in California is also helped by state and local governments’ substantial subsidies to stimulate demand. The state has earmarked $3.2 billion to subsidize solar installation, with the goal of putting solar cells on one million rooftops.
The state Assembly passed a law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020, which could spur alternatives like solar.
The optimism is real. Investments into alternative energies like solar are growing quickly. But there are some things to consider:
Whether any of this investment pays off depends, as it did in previous eras, on reaching the point at which solar cells produce electricity as inexpensively as fossil fuels. The cost of solar energy is projected to fall steeply as cheaper new technology reaches economies of scale. Optimists believe that some regions in California could reach that point in half a decade.
At present, solar power is three to five times as expensive as coal, depending on the technology used, said Dan Reicher, director for climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org, the philanthropic division of the Internet company.
But maybe history will prove that the first few years of the 21st century were as innovative as the Industrial Revolution, or - born out of need - something else altogether:
“We’re at the dawn of a revolution that could be as powerful as the Internet revolution,” Mr. Reicher said. The problem is, he said, “renewable energy simply costs too much.”
