Sun Volt Solar

The New York Solar Industry and Jobs act (S. 7093b A. 11004a)

I have stated before, renewable energy needs to compete head to head with fossil fuels based energy in order for it to thrive. At the current time, that does not seem likely because of all the corporate welfare being doled out to the big oil, coal and gas companies in the form of tax breaks and subsides. Those subsides are a hidden cost that we all pay in our income taxes. The real way to get people to reduce or stop using oil is to raise the prices. Cutting subsides would do exactly that and lead to reduced government spending at the same time.

In New York State, a move is afoot to increase the RPS standard by increasing an already existing surcharge on all publicly traded NY based electric utilities. As the report indicates, it would cost the average utility costumer about $0.39 per month additional. For this amount, it is estimated that 22,000 jobs will be created in the solar power sector and $20 billion in additional economic output will be realized.

I normally cast a jaundiced eye toward job creation claims in pending legislation, those claims are usually highly optimistic and never fully pan out. Even so, if this proposed bill produced even half the estimated jobs, it would be a good thing. Further still, when all the publicly traded utility companies in NY ban together in strong opposition of said bill, it is worthy of a second look. Things that highly agitate the utility companies are likely good for the consumer.

Tags: politics

11 Jul 10 | Commentary, Incentives | Comment (1)

Live by the incentive, die by the incentive

26 Apr 10 | Incentives

It is no secret that New York state is in dire financial straits. I believe that many other states face the same challenges. NYSERDA, the funding mechanism for PV rebates and other renewable energy projects has cut it’s rebate rate to $1.75 per watt installed (down from $4.00 a few years ago). There approval times for PV system now ranges in the five to six month period. All of this has served to put a damper on PV installation in NY, especially residential systems.

This is the problem with artificial economies created by government incentives and rebates. Withdraw the incentive and the market goes away. There are two forces at work; first, the public is expecting the incentive and have become conditioned to it. Even as the incentive shrinks, many feel that if they wait, it may come back. This is true even as prices of PV panels continue to drop, many folks will just wait around for a better deal. Second, those that are selling these systems get used to having that incentive there like a crutch. The solar industry is facing the same issue it faced in the late 1980’s when Regan cut the tax incentives for solar systems. After that, most of the industry dried up.

The main issue is the subsidizing of the fossil fuel industry, which makes energy prices artificially low (however, it makes taxes high). As many of my customers will tell you, this practice needs to go away in order for renewable energy to be come a viable option in our economy. Rather than pay out incentives for solar, wind, geothermal, have them compete head to head with “traditional” energy sources by removing the coal, oil and natural gas producer’s incentives. Of course, the prices of gas and oil will go up, but only to the extent that they will eventually go up anyway.

Competing head to head will solve several issues; reduce pollution through conservation and renewable energy investment, reduce taxes by eliminating payouts to fossil fuel and renewable energy sectors, cut government bureaucracy and remove control from government officials, give consumers a real choice when it comes to energy sources.

In other words, what a market economy is supposed to look like.

Tags: renewable energy incentives

26 Apr 10 | Incentives | Comments (0)

New York to revise its net metering laws

27 Feb 10 | Conservation, Environment, Incentives, Solar Electric

Both the New York Assembly and the Senate has passed amendments to NY’s net metering rules. The amendment (A.7557A/S.6700) is designed to increase the net metering for non-residential customers by correcting restrictions to the 2008 net metering regulations. The original 2008 allowed for interconnections up to 2 MW but the wording was ambiguous and most new net metering accounts were residential since 2008. By allowing larger commercial systems, businesses will be able to take advantage of solar and wind energy, helping to meet NY State’s goal of 25% renewable energy by 2013.

Net metering allows the owner of an on-site renewable energy system to receive a credit on his or her utility bill for any unused power supplied to the electric grid by the system. The credit then offsets the power received from the grid when the customer consumes more energy than the system is generating. In addition to acting as a hedge against rising energy costs and reducing overall stress on the electric grid, on-site renewable energy sustmers provide numerous environmental, public health, and economic development benefits to local communities.

This is the basis for all grid connected PV systems. It is good that the government of NY realizes the benefits of renewable energy and are taking steps to help implement it here.

The question is, will all of this renewable energy replace fossil fuel based generation, or will it merely increase the energy capacity and thus use in NY? There are indications that the latter is normally the case, unless fossil fuel based energy becomes too expensive for the average person of business. After the energy efficiency increases in the 1970’s and 80’s, many people began building larger houses because they could now afford it. History will repeat itself unless the true costs of energy are passed on to the end consumer and not the taxpayer.

Tags: politics, renewable energy

27 Feb 10 | Conservation, Environment, Incentives, Solar Electric | Comments (0)