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• DECEMBER 15, 2010, 2:54 P.M. ET

US Senate Approves Key Renewable Energy Tax Incentives

By Cassandra Sweet

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a tax bill that, among other things, extends for another year key tax incentives for the renewable power and ethanol industries.

The $858 billion bill, which extends Bush-era tax cuts for two years, moves next to the House of Representatives.

U.S. wind, solar and other renewable energy industries have pressed lawmakers to continue a program that allows solar and wind power facilities to obtain federal grants equal to a tax credit worth 30% of the cost of building a new facility. The program was established in the 2009 economic stimulus package to rescue the U.S. renewable energy market from near collapse, after lenders that had previously provided financing in return for developers' tax credits abandoned the sector amid the financial crisis.

Developers have warned that U.S. renewable energy development will slow down, with massive layoffs to follow, if the tax grant program isn't extended, owing to continued weakness in the U.S. power market, the slow pace of the economic recovery and a still difficult financing environment.

The Solar Energy Industries Association hailed the Senate's passage of the tax bill, saying the grant program has created jobs in all 50 U.S. states for construction workers, electricians, plumbers and other tradespeople.

"An extension will help the solar industry remain one of the fastest growing industries in America and create thousands of new careers," the solar industry group said in a statement. "With passage now complete in the Senate, it is critical that the House moves swiftly to pass this bill and send to the President for his signature. Tens of thousands of jobs depend on it."

The tax bill also includes a one-year extension of a tax credit for the ethanol industry. The program provides a 45-cent subsidy for every gallon of ethanol blended into gasoline.

While the ethanol industry hailed the inclusion, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and a coalition of food industry, animal agricultural industry and environmental groups criticized the ethanol tax-credit extension, saying it wasn't necessary for an industry that enjoys other kinds of government support.

"The ethanol industry is the only one to ever receive the triple crown of government intervention," Feinstein said in a statement following the Senate's passage of the tax bill. "Ethanol use is mandated by law, its users receive federal subsidizes and domestic production is protected by tariffs. That policy is not sustainable."

Feinstein had made a last-minute push to lower the value of the ethanol credit by 20%. The extension still needs to win approval in the House of Representatives.

The tax bill also would cut payroll taxes for workers in 2011, extends jobless benefits for 13 months and extend a range of expired business tax breaks.

-By Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6468; cassandra.sweet@dowjones.com

--Tennille Tracy, Corey Boles, Martin Vaughan and Siobhan Hughes contributed to this article.

Obama To Use Solar Electric At White House

Obama To Use Solar Electric At White House
(Bloomberg News) President Barack Obama will have solar panels put back on the roof of the White House to demonstrate that renewable-energy technology is practical for U.S. homeowners, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.

“The White House will lead by example,” Chu said yesterday at a conference in Washington. A solar-water heater will be installed in addition to photovoltaic panels to generate electricity, which will be in place by the end of June, he said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had them up there.”

President Jimmy Carter had solar panels installed on the White House’s West Wing 31 years ago. They were taken down under Carter’s successor, Ronald Reagan. Solar-energy advocates have pressed Obama to return panels to the executive mansion as a symbol of his commitment to renewable energy. The panels and heater will be atop Obama’s private residence in the East Wing.

“Putting solar on the roof of the nation’s most important home is a powerful symbol calling on all Americans to rethink how we create energy,” Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, a Washington-based trade group, said in a statement.

The Energy Department said in a statement that it will hold competitive bidding to choose the company that will install the solar systems.

U.S.-Made Panels

Asked whether the panels on the White House roof must be made in the U.S., Stephanie Mueller, an Energy Department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the criteria for the winning bidder will include “how well it showcases American technology, products and know-how.”

The U.S. has fallen behind China and European countries such as Germany in renewable energy. Asia makes more than half the world’s wind and solar energy equipment and is widening its lead. China invested $34.5 billion in low-carbon energy technologies last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The U.S. spent $18.6 billion.

Chu said today that the U.S. is on course to meet Obama’s goal of doubling manufacturing capacity for renewable energy by 2012. Obama has failed to win passage in Congress of legislation to create a cap-and-trade system limiting carbon emissions or to establish national standards for the use of renewable energy.

Prudential Installs Solar Panels

November 11, 2010

Prudential Installs Solar Panels

Prudential Financial Inc. expects to save 2.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 3.2 million pounds a year as a result of installing solar panels on three office buildings. The Newark, N.J.-based financial services company announced this week that it installed the panels on its office building in Scottsdale, Ariz., and on two buildings in its Roseland, N.J.-office complex.
"Over the next 10 years, we expect these solar panels to save us approximately $3 million in energy costs and help us further reduce our overall carbon footprint by around 14,300 metric tons," said Michael Perrette, vice president and head of corporate facilities for Prudential.
The 2,678 panels installed in the Roseland buildings will generate about 3% of the power use in that office campus, with a peak power output of 500 kilowatt hours. The solar project in Scottsdale is the largest solar photovoltaic system on a commercial office building in Arizona. It involved installing 4,508 panels that generate about 30% of the building's power use, with a peak output of 885 kilowatt hours.

NC Dorm Wins Energy Contest

Dorm Wins Energy Contest

By GWENDOLYN BOUNDS

Ultimately, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels prevailed over rival North Carolina State Wolfpack—as well as trouncing Sears, J.C. Penney and Sheraton.

The playing field: a national competition sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency to see which commercial building could trim its energy use the most over 12 months. The EPA will report Tuesday that ranking first was a dorm at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Morrison Residence Hall at UNC-Chapel Hill installed solar panels to cut utility costs.

The strategy at UNC's Morrison Residence Hall wasn't as sexy as a winning three-point shot at the buzzer—but tweaks to its heating and cooling equipment, an expanded solar-powered hot water system, lighting upgrades and persistent coaxing of students to dial down hot water usage in the laundry room helped the dorm cut its energy consumption by almost 36% and shave more than $250,000 off its bills. Similar moves are being implemented campus-wide.

"The big lesson for us is that efforts need to include occupants as well as the maintenance personnel of buildings," says Chris Martin Jr., director of energy management for the university. "Otherwise, eventually the savings will be lost."

Indeed, for all participants who did well, change happened at a macro level, such as weather-stripping, better lighting and thermal-imaging cameras to identify heat leaks. But the real challenge was coaxing occupants to change ingrained behaviors, such as expecting offices chilled to 68 degrees in the summer. On average, 30% of the energy used in the nation's 4.8 million commercial buildings is wasted, the EPA says.

The contest's runners up included Sears Holdings Corp.'s Glen Burnie, Md., store and a J.C. Penney Co. Inc. store in Orange, Calif., with 32% and 28% energy-use reductions respectively. Bringing up the rear of the 14 participants with less than 2% drops were the Sheraton Austin Hotel in Texas and the Virginia Beach Convention Center, Virginia Beach, Va.

Sears, for instance, wielded thermal-imaging cameras to detect and minimize heat generated by equipment powering the store. It also replaced worn or missing weather-stripping and ensured heating/cooling appliances were clean and running properly.

Vigilance by store staffers played a role, too. "One of the biggest things that doesn't cost money and the reason we were successful was getting store teams to turn off lights and close doors," says Michael Brown, director of environmental sustainability for Sears, which operates some 3,900 stores, including Kmart.

At the J.C. Penney store, signs and stickers exhorting staffers—dubbed the "Orange Power Rangers"—to pay attention to energy consumption, including turning off curling irons and coffee makers in the salon. Aggressive measures with lighting paid off, including new occupancy sensors in back offices and stock rooms and replacing some 425 hot halogen bulbs with more efficient LEDs (light emitting diodes). The store saved about $44,000 in energy costs during the competition.

The EPA's contest was held at a juncture when the agency's well-known Energy Star program needs to buff its credibility after a government report found loose verifications standards for claims made by manufacturers of products bearing the Energy Star label. Rules are being tightened. To ensure contestants in the building competition didn't fudge, the EPA says it required 24 months of utility-bill statements for verification.

Write to Gwendolyn Bounds at wendy.bounds@wsj.com

Report: PV Industry Will Grow 92% in 2010

Staff: October 27, 2010

Report: PV Industry Will Grow 92% in 2010 to Surpass 15 GW

The latest data indicate 25 gigawatts by 2012 and sub-one-dollar-per-watt module pricing by 2012.

Read the full press release here.
Global solar photovoltaics (PV) panel production will eclipse 15 gigawatts this year, according to GTM Research’s latest report, PV Technology, Production and Cost Outlook: 2010–2015.  While subsidy cuts in key markets will lead to slower growth in 2011 and beyond, panel production will still exceed 25 gigawatts by 2013. At the same time, increasing competition between suppliers will lead to panel prices of less than $1/watt by 2012 for select technologies.
The report explores current global PV supply chain environments, from polysilicon production to wafer, cell, and module manufacturing. In addition to forecasting production volumes and component prices, the report conducts an extensive examination of PV technology characteristics, producer-specific manufacturing costs, market dynamics, competitive positioning, and business model analysis .

Report Scope and Questions for Competitive Decision Making:

“Over the past 18 months, we have witnessed the global PV industry become more complex and dynamic than ever before,” said Shyam Mehta, the report’s author and a Senior Solar Analyst at GTM Research. “The supply chain has been bombarded with opportunities from scaling demand, and the industry has responded to this competitive dynamic with new, low-cost technologies and more sophisticated business models.”

The industry’s increase in production capacity is also spurring global price competition between PV technologies. While First Solar boasted thin film panel costs of less than $1/watt in early 2010, PV Technology, Production and Cost Outlook: 2010–2015 forecasts the industry will reach its next economic milestone by 2012 when panel prices for the retail market will themselves fall below $1/watt.

“Our global pricing analysis projects higher-cost panel producers to come under significantly more pressure in 2011 as PV continues to become more commoditized and low-cost manufacturers such as First Solar and top-tier Chinese firms add more capacity,” said Mehta. “Whether it be through product differentiation, contract manufacturing, technology innovation, or vertical integration, higher-cost producers will have to develop differentiated business models to stay alive in the long term.”

Energy Basics: Concentrating Solar Power

Energy Basics: Concentrating Solar Power