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Make an informed decision by role-playing a sales call in your interviews.

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One of the companies who have recently secured DoE backing with a loan guarantee is celebrating their ground-breaking ceremony today. With over $2.1bl in founding, this plant will be the largest in the world at 1GW once it is complete. However, this journey to CSP market proliferation and support has been a turbulent one!

The announcement coincides with the run-up to the biggest annual concentration of CSP professionals in Las Vegas (CSP TODAY USA 2011, June 29-30 www.csptoday.com/usa). Belén Gallego, Founder & Director of CSP Today, reports that over 600 professionals will come  together to discuss the future of the industry and the opportunities for progress. “It has taken a lot of time to build momentum in the US CSP industry, so it’s crucial that we capitalize on it”. Gallego adds that “dramatically reducing costs and becoming competitive are number one priority” 

As part of the conference proceedings, active developers will be updating their colleagues on the latest developments with projects worldwide, and more specifically in the US.

Following a 20 year hiatus, the first US CSP plant was constructed in Las Vegas in 2006 by Acciona Solar (Now Acciona Energy). The plant was named Nevada Solar I and it is a parabolic trough technology plant with an output of 64MW. Only one project in Florida came to fruition in the years after that, until 2010 when the Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Plant was developed by NextEra in Florida.

However, in the last quarter of 2010 two plants of never-seen-before dimensions obtained conditional loan guarantees and are now under construction: The Ivanpah and Solana projects.

The novelty of these plants is the size and innovation incorporated in their designs, with a 7 hours of molten salt storage for Solana (A 280 MW parabolic trough plant); and the tower design for Ivanpah (3 towers totalling up to 392MW). Both were the largest announced in the world at the time. Ivanpah also constituted a leapfrog advance in tower technology scaling up 6.5 times the size per tower that had been achieved previously by PS20, a 20MW tower plant in Sevilla (Spain).

2011 has so far followed a positively similar trend, with $3.35bn having been announced by the DoE in loan guarantees for 4 different projects: Blythe (Solar Trust of America, 2x 240MW part of 1GW plant), Crescent Dunes (SolarReserve, 110MW tower project, The Mojave Solar Project (Abengoa, 280MW) and Genesis Solar Project (NextEra, 250MW trough project). The industry are waiting with baited breath to see whether 2011 will be the turning point in the US industry on its journey to market dominance.

It hasn’t been an easy ride so far – “With 479MW of CSP connected to the grid, the early leadership of the USA in installed MW capacity was surpassed last year by Spain with over 1GW currently connected to the grid” continues Gallego

However, with 1,796MW now in construction with the support of the loan guarantees and more than 10GW in the pipeline, the industry is gaining real momentum in the USA. Reducing costs, securing transmission, environmental permits and financing are still enormous roadblocks for full development of the industry in the USA. But there has never been a better time to prove the viability, the potential for the creation of green jobs and energy independence that CSP brings to the table. With this in mind, CSP Today USA (June 29-30, Las Vegas), promises to cement the relationships and share the lessons learnt that are so vital for long-term CSP success.

About CSP Today
CSP Today is the leading business intelligence, news and events company focused exclusively on the concentrated solar thermal power industry. For more information please visit www.csptoday.com
For information about the CSP TODAY USA 2011 please visit www.csptoday.com/usa

Contact details:

Bea González
Marketing Manager
CSP Today
bea@csptoday.com
UK Phone +44 207 3757500

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Last week, Germany’s economic development agency announced similarly big news: There are now more than 100,000 workers employed in the German solar PV industry alone.  Why is that so significant? The U.S. figures take into account solar jobs in PV, solar hot water and concentrating solar power; Germany is only factoring in solar PV.

And as a reader over at Clean Technica observed: “The US has about 312 million people while Germany has 82 million, about 25% as many people…. That makes the German solar industry more than four times as large an employer than US steel based on country size.”

A couple words of caution: These figures are comparing solar manufacturing, sales and installation to steel production alone. If one were to factor in products made from steel, the industry would be up around 160,000 workers.

With that said, the solar industry is just getting started here in America. Solar is a high-growth industry with the potential to create millions more jobs in a diverse range of sectors; while still an extraordinarily important industry, steel is not.

Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, explains the significance:

Whether it is construction contractors, plumbers, electricians, assembly-line workers or even lawyers and accountants, solar is creating new opportunities at a time when so many Americans are looking for some good news on the job front. In just three short years, the solar industry has grown from a small start-up to an industry that now employs more Americans than U.S. steel production.

Yet, even with such a big milestone for the U.S. economy, political leaders like Louisiana Representative John Fleming are questioning the “so-called green jobs that we’re yet to see produced.”

The bigger question for Mr. Fleming and other doubters is: Which curve do you want to place your bets on?

The continued growth in U.S. solar?

Or the uncertain future for U.S. steel? (The black line represents the U.S. and the red line is China.) Sadly, without leadership on a long-term renewable energy policy, the split between America and China below may just play out in the solar industry as well.

This article was originally published by Climate Progress and was reprinted with permission.

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“The training was successful for students of all backgrounds.  We had people entirely new to the industry, and highly experienced installers and developers find it to be extremely useful.  The in depth knowledge that you gain at a training like this is a perfect supplement to any conference.”  Said Edlin Kim, Business Development Director of NST

“The kind of conference training we started with Solar and You! really is the perfect way to get people into new green jobs and grow the green economy.  It’s the perfect mix of training based on real world situations and the networking professionals need to really get things done.” Said Kate Hotchkiss, the Director of the National Solar Conference at the American Solar Energy Society.

“There was a tremendous turn out for this training, especially given the limited amount of time when it was possible to sign up.  All sorts of people found this training to be extremely useful.  And we learned as much as the students, and are looking forward to making future conference trainings even better.”  Said Lars Rudstam, Marketing Director of National Solar Trainers.

Solar and You 2012 will be held in Denver Colorado during the National Solar Conference. 

ABOUT THE AMERICAN SOLAR ENERGY SOCIETY: 

Established in 1954, the nonprofit American Solar Energy Society (ASES) is the nation’s leading association of solar professionals and grassroots advocates. Supported by more than 12,000 members, ASES advances research, education, and policy. ASES publishes the award-winning SOLAR TODAY magazine, presents the National Solar Conference, rallies citizens to build a Solar Nation, and leads the National Solar Tour – the world’s largest grassroots solar event.  www.ases.org.     

ABOUT NATIONAL SOLAR TRAINERS:

National Solar Trainers LLC (NST) is the only exclusively business to business training provider in the solar industry.  It provides trainers, curriculums, and consulting services for dozens of training programs, including manufacturers, contractors, solar academies, non-profits, and colleges, which in turn train thousands of students.  Its trainers have over 40 years of solar experience and have trained countless students around the globe.  NST seeks to be a mark of quality by ensuring the highest standards of professional solar training are being delivered across the industry. Learn more about NST trainings at www.nationalsolartrainers.com

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Green Technology Achieve a Sustainable Future with Green Technology. Create Innovation for New Energy. « Gulf states can exploit solar and geothermal energy alternatives | Main | Brazil smart grid enabled by meters and wireless mesh network »

Google Solar City investment focuses on homeowners

Google will help homeowner finance solar power installations through its Solar City investment.  Solar City covers the installation and maintenance costs while the homeowner pays a monthly lease cost.  …

…   “we’re announcing that we’ve investing $280 million to create a fund that will help SolarCity finance more solar installations across the country.

This is our largest clean energy project investment to date and brings our total invested in the clean energy sector to more than $680 million.”   …

Via Google: Homeowners and the sun.

Solar City.

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BOSTON–Germany, Italy, and Spain may be the solar powerhouses of today, but in five years, a new set of countries led by India will emerge as leading consumers of solar technology, according to an analyst.

Lux Research solar analyst Ted Sullivan yesterday predicted that India, South Africa, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and the U.K. are among the countries best-suited to create the market demand for gigawatts worth of solar panels as established countries cool off.

Last year, Germany and Italy represented about two-thirds of the solar market, but solar growth in those countries is expected to level off this year as subsidies get scaled back. Also, once distributed solar reaches a certain penetration, it becomes challenging for grid operators to maintain stability without grid storage.

For solar manufacturers, which are cranking out higher and higher volumes of solar panels, the question of which country can become the “next Germany” and consume hundreds of megawatts of solar is an important question for the industry, said Sullivan during a presentation at the Lux Executive Summit here.

Japan, the U.S., and China are also large markets, representing about four gigawatts of capacity installed last year. But because of questions of subsidies and solar penetration in the grid, the question of where the bulk of demand lies after 2011 is still unclear, Sullivan said.

Bringing down the cost of solar and changing utility regulations to employ time-of-use pricing, in which peak power costs more, could make solar more attractive in emerging countries such as Mexico or Brazil, he said. In India, solar will likely need to be coupled with storage for off-grid applications to take hold, he added.

But even with the potential of some developing markets, Sullivan said it will take years for many of them to materialize. In five years, he predicted one-third of the 32 gigawatts of installed capacity will be in countries which have little solar power today.

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The company will bring these initial utility scale, rooftop solar energy projects into their execution stage within the next 10 days, and looks forward to announcing its first scheduled construction dates in the near future.

As indicated in the OPA’s publicly released list of CAE FIT Contracts Offered (Phase 3), Atlantic’s wholly owned Canadian subsidiary (Atlantic Solar Inc.)  will be receiving a total of twenty government contracts within the next eight weeks.

In addtion to the aforementioned 5 awarded contracts and their remaining 15 FIT contracts offered, the Company expects to receive approval on many more of their submitted applications, during the OPA’s next release Phases.

Atlantic would like to take this opportunity to congratulate some of its partners and valued clients, who have also received multiple awarded contracts over the last two weeks, and looks forward to having the opportunity to help bring these and other large scale, commercial rooftop solar parks into operation over the months ahead.

Strengthens Team – Expands U.S. Solar Program
 
Atlantic Wind & Solar welcomes Ms. Andrea Weingarten to the team, as she is appointed to the position of Regional Program Manager and head of its new Northwestern U.S. Drive Solar Program (DSP).

Ms. Weingarten brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, combined with strong strategic relationships to Atlantic, as it prepares to increase its service offerings across the United States.

Andrea spent most of the last decade at one of the big three motor companies in Marketing, Sales and Service… half of which she served as Zone Manager.  
Working closely with over 120 corporate and independently owned automotive dealerships in Southern California, Arizona, Michigan and Ohio, Andrea has played an intricate role in the execution of Customer Satisfaction, Inventory, Marketing, Facilities and Profitability programs.

Atlantic CEO, Mr. Gilles Trahan affirms “Andrea is a natural team leader, experienced in the development and deployment of full scale, corporate programs for a well known Fortune 500 company… programs that reportedly have been proven effective by measureable change. We look forward to working with and supporting Andrea as she begins to implement renewable energy based marketing strategies that she has developed over the past several months.”

Ms. Andrea Weingarten comments  “I’m pleased to have the opportunity to officially join the Atlantic ranks and believe their rooftop solar energy systems combined with their risk management approach and advanced technologies will provide us a unique competitive advantage when assisting targeted, socially responsible corporations to meet their Go-Green and eco friendly mandates and initiatives.”

About the Drive Solar Program (DSP)

The Drive Solar Program offers retailers and commercial building owners (within specific regions of the United States) the opportunity to either lease their rooftops to Atlantic Wind & Solar, (to host advanced rooftop solar energy parks on) or to own and operate their own photovoltaic rooftop or parking lot solar shade system (solar energy producing car ports) as part of their ongoing commitment to reducing their carbon footprint, while preserving the environment for future generations.

For more information about Atlantic’s U.S. Drive Solar Program, please contact Andrea Weingarten at +1 800 891 1657 ext. 228,
or email AWeingarten@AtlanticWindandSolar.com

Visit the Atlantic corporate web site at:  www.AtlanticWindandSolar.com

View Atlantic’s 3 in. YouTube video introduction at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL1elhDVwHY

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On Friday, the government is supposed to approve an extension of the current feed-in tariff policy – which was originally to end in June – until this August. So what does it mean for one of the hottest markets in the world? Despite anticipated cuts, the country remains sought-after by manufacturers and developers.

“Even the most pessimistic analyst will say this year Italy will still be 3-5 gigawatts,” said Mark Chen, director of marketing at Abound Solar. “Let’s say 3 gigawatts, and that’s still larger than the U.S. market.”

Abound Solar, a Colorado maker of cadmium-telluride solar panels, announced this week the signing of distribution agreements with Italian firms Thesan and DW Europe. Thesan and DW are both distributors and integrators, and Thesan in particular has designed its own mounting systems for solar panels, Chen said. Thesan is set to showcase a solar electric system design pairing Abound Solar’s panels with its own racking at the Solarexpo.

Thesan and DW Europe also have each bought solar panels in “single-digit megawatts” from Abound Solar since the start of this year, Chen said.

Italy also has been a key market for companies such as SunPower, who just announced a plan to sell a 60 percent stake to French oil and gas giant, Total, whose offer includes a $1 billion credit over five years to help fund SunPower’s power plant development business globally, among other things. SunPower bought an Italian project developer in 2010 and announced in January this year that it had built 85 megawatts of projects in that country.

Abound is among the thin-film startups who hope to expand their manufacturing operations quickly to compete in a market where crystalline silicon remains the overwhelmingly dominant technology. The need for huge capital to build factories has prompted companies large and small to turn to government or well-funded partners for help. 

Chen said the Italian market – and Europe overall – remains attractive because its feed-in tariff policy puts a premium on ultra thin solar panels that can be integrated into the roof to appear less obtrusive. Thin films tend to be slimmer than silicon panels, which are roughly 6 times thicker, making thin film a more attractive option for building-integrated applications, Chen said.

“It has to do with the aesthetics and maintaining the traditional image of Italian villas and towns,” Chen said. “You have traditional tile rooftops. If you don’t have integration, then the first things you see are blue and black silicon cells not orange tiles.”

Some silicon solar panel makers, such as Suntech Power, however, have rolled out products for the building-integrated market.

Abound Solar has snagged a $400 million federal loan to help build 775 megawatts of factories in Colorado and Indiana. The company shipped about 30 megawatts of solar panels in 2010 and expects to produce close to 60 megawatts in 2011, Chen said. The company is in the process of doubling its existing, 65 megawatts of annual production capacity. When the new production equipment is up and running, the company believes it can cut manufacturing cost down to 90 cents per watt.  

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With this in mind, Solar Energy International is launching a series of short solar training courses in multiple delivery models to serve the solar industry’s continuing education need. The entire series will be offered through SEI’s Online Campus and will be made available through live webinars and condensed, self-paced online courses.

Solar Energy International’s new Continuing Education Series is designed to serve several different audiences. Specifically, solar installers and renewable energy professionals, electricians, inspectors, and many other highly technical tradespeople will benefit from this series of continuing education to both elevate their understanding of highly technical concepts and broaden their knowledge with other informational courses. 

Additionally, many professions outside the core activities of the green sector are looking to learn the technologies and applications of renewable energy. Many professional certification and licenses allow for continuing education and exploratory learning outside core requrements of the profession to broaden knowledge and skills. Architects, roofers, real estate agents and brokers, K-12 educators, and other industry professionals can use this training series to fulfill broader educational requirements needed to stay licensed or certified in their professional area of emphasis. 

Solar Energy International’s inaugural webinar in the new Continuing Education Series provides a professional training opportunity targeted to a highly technical audience seeking 2011 National Electric Code updates and how they affect the solar professional and PV system installation and design. 

CE: 2011 National Electric Code Updates for the Solar Professional
Join SEI on June 1, 2011 at 1 p.m. MDT for a live three-hour webinar-based training session by registering here >>

Online registration provides participation in the live session, with 30 days of access to the recording. Cost is $49.

Can’t make the live session?  No problem – you can still register for this course and have the same access to the recorded presentation and resources.  

Solar Energy International will discuss the following topics:

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Sponsored by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES, www.ases.org), the ASES National Solar Conference at the Raleigh Convention Center is the industry’s most comprehensive educational event for everyone interested in the nation’s rapidly expanding clean-energy economy. The conference will attract a wide audience, including installers, manufacturers, architects, builders, media, academics, government officials, policy makers, scientists, researchers, engineers, investors, energy utilities and consumers interested in clean energy. They will learn about the latest renewable energy technology, products, trends, installation techniques, policies, energy efficiency and high-performance building methods.  More details about the conference can be found here: www.nationalsolarconference.org.

Key Speakers Include:

Majora Carter, president, Majora Carter Group
A MacArthur “genius grant” winner, Carter is president of the economic consulting firm she founded, The Majora Carter Group; host of a special public radio series, The Promised Land; and serves on the Boards of CERES, the USBGC and The Wilderness Society. From 2001 to 2008, Carter was executive director of the nonprofit she founded, Sustainable South Bronx, where she pioneered green-collar job training and placement systems in one of the most environmentally and economically challenged parts of the United States.

Ramamoorthy Ramesh, SunShot program director, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

As the Director of the Dollar-a-Watt SunShot program at DOE, Professor Ramesh oversees the R&D activities of the Solar Program.  Ramesh graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Ph. D. in 1987. He returned to Berkeley in 2004 and was named the Plato Malozemoff Chair Professor in Materials Science and Physics. Prior to that, he was a professor at the University of Maryland College Park.  From 1989-1995, at Bellcore, he initiated research in several key areas of oxide electronics, including ferroelectric nonvolatile memories. Ramesh received the Humboldt Senior Scientist Prize and Fellowship to the American Physical Society (2001). In 2005, he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science as well as the David Adler Lectureship of the American Physical Society. In 2007, he was awarded the Materials Research Society David Turnbull Lectureship Award; and in 2009, he was elected Fellow of MRS and was the recipient of the 2010 APS McGroddy New Materials Prize.

Greg Wolf, president, Duke Energy Renewables
Wolf leads Duke Energy’s solar and biomass businesses. He has also managed Duke Energy’s investment portfolio focused on energy technologies and infrastructure services, and served as vice president of communications infrastructure, where he had responsibility for the company’s commercial telecommunications businesses. Before Duke Energy merged with Cinergy Corp., Wolf was vice president of Cinergy Ventures and Cinergy Broadband.

Wolf has also served as vice president of portfolio management for Cinergy’s commercial business unit. He has also held key executive roles at General Electric. Wolf earned undergraduate degrees in industrial management and finance from the University of Cincinnati, and a master of business administration degree from the Harvard Business School.

James (Jim) Lyons, senior director for renewable energy, Defenders of Wildlife
Lyons joined Defenders of Wildlife as senior director for renewable energy in June 2010. He leads a project aimed at promoting wildlife-friendly and environmentally responsible renewable energy development on public lands. Since 2004, Lyons has been a lecturer and research scholar at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where he was a professor from 2001 to 2003. From 2006 through 2009, he was vice president for policy and communications at Oxfam America, an international development and humanitarian organization. He was also vice president of the organization’s advocacy arm, the Oxfam America Action Fund.

Prior to that, Lyons was the executive director of the Casey Trees Endowment Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit committed to restoring the tree canopy of the nation’s capital. Lyons also served as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment for eight years during the Clinton administration. From 1987 to 1993, he staffed the House Committee on Agriculture and guided the policy and legislative activities affecting forestry and natural resources, conservation and environmental issues. In 2002, Lyons helped to shape the first farm bill energy title. Jim holds a bachelor of science (with honors) in natural resource administration from Rutgers University and a master of forestry from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.  

SOLAR AND YOU! TRAINING

In partnership with National Solar Trainers (NST, www.nationalsolartrainers.com), a leading provider of unbiased solar education, ASES’ SOLAR AND YOU! training will provide installers and other interested participants exceptional skill development in advanced topics in solar technology, business management, market trends, residential and commercial installation, and more during early-conference training sessions May 17 and 18. For the first time, participants can earn in a single conference all 18 continuing education credits needed for recertification by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners. 

The following renewable energy leaders have key roles in the Solar and You training:

SOLAR 2011 is the longest-running educational event in the United States for solar energy professionals. It was developed by and for solar- and renewable-energy experts working in technology, buildings, policy, professional education, workforce development and consumer education. More than 5,000 attendees are expected.

Special, pre-full-conference registration pricing is being offered as follows: through May 16: $839; on-site: $939. Free registration for qualified media.

http://www.nationalsolarconference.org/solar2011/public/Content.aspx?ID=74&sortMenu=110000

About the American Solar Energy Society:
Established in 1954, the nonprofit American Solar Energy Society (ASES) is the nation’s leading association of solar professionals and grassroots advocates. Supported by more than 13,000 members, ASES’s mission is to inspire an era of energy innovation and speed the transition to a sustainable energy economy. It advances research, education and policy. ASES publishes the award-winning SOLAR TODAY magazine (www.solartoday.org), presents the ASES National Solar Conference (http://www.nationalsolarconference.org), rallies citizens to build a Solar Nation (www.solar-nation.org), and leads the ASES National Solar Tour, the world’s largest grassroots solar event. www.ases.org.       

CONFERENCE INFORMATION:

http://www.nationalsolarconference.org, Kate Hotchkiss, National Solar Conference director, (303) 443-3130 x111, KHotchkiss@ases.org

MEDIA CONTACT:

Jason Sherman, 708-445-8598, jason@shermancm.com, www.shermancm.com

SHERMAN communications and marketing

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