No more panels? Dow unveils 'solar shingles' for rooftop power

Dow Chemical, the same company that makes Styrofoam and lots of other products, this week unveiled a new one that could change the residential construction business: solar shingles.

The Dow "Powerhouse Solar Shingle" offers "revolutionary photovoltaic solar panels in the form of solar shingles that can be integrated into rooftops with standard asphalt shingle materials," according to a company press release.

Photovoltaic shingles aren't new. What's new is that these shingles use a type of thin-film solar cells produced by Global Solar that combine efficiency with low cost.

Reuters reports that Dow's Solar Solutions division said it expects "an enthusiastic response" from roofing contractors for the new shingles, since they require no specialized skills or knowledge of solar systems to install. As Solar Solutions boss Jane Palmieri explained to the New York Times, “As a roofer is nailing asphalt shingle on roof, wherever the array needs to be installed he just switches to solar shingle."

Palmieri told the Associated Press that the cost would run about $27,000 for an array of solar shingles to offset 60 percent of a home's power consumption. Dow will begin test-marketing the Powerhouse shingles next year, she said.

[Photo: Dow Powerhouse Solar Shingles]

Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer

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Florida solar energy industry now backing offshore oil drilling too

Backers of a drive to open up Florida's near-shore waters to offshore drilling picked up a new ally today: the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association.

Yes, you read that right. Solar backs Oil. The reason for these strange bedfellows: Money. The revenue that the state could reap from allowing drilling for oil five miles off Florida's gulf beaches could act as a bridge to help the state promote alternative energy for the future, the association said in a press release.

"“We believe the proposal to tap these energy resources, with stringent environmental protections, can help move our state toward renewable energies that will reduce our country’s dependence on fossil fuels,” explained association executive director Bruce Kershner. Here's the full text of the announcement: Download FlaSEIA rls 10-1-09

--Craig Pittman

Old Ford plant gets new lease on life in Wixom, Mich.

Here's a lesson in green. An abandoned Ford plant is being converted into a renewable energy park, where solar panels and efficient batteries will be manufactured, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The $725-million conversion of the former Ford Motor Co. Wixom plant will create 4,000 new low-carbon economy jobs. The Wixom plant closed in 2007 after 50 years of assembling Lincoln products. It will now produce new wafer-film solar panels by Clairvoyant Energy of California, and large storage batteries by Xtreme Power.

David Adams, Times Staff Writer

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China signs deal with U.S. firm for world’s biggest photovoltaic power plant

Remember how we told you recently that China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, was now pushing ahead on solar, wind and other alternative energy projects?

Chinese government officials signed an agreement on Tuesday with an American solar energy developer called First Solar for a 2,000-megawatt photovoltaic farm to be built in the Mongolian desert, the New York Times is reporting today.

They plan to build the world’s biggest photovoltaic power plant project to date, says the NYT, as part of an 11,950-megawatt renewable-energy park planned for Ordos City in Inner Mongolia. "The project would eventually blanket 25 square miles of Inner Mongolia — slightly larger than the size of Manhattan — with a sea of black, light-absorbing glass," the Associated Press reports.

The plant, when finished, "could provide enough power for 3 million typical Chinese homes -- the equivalent of two large modern coal-fired power plants," says the Los Angeles Times.

In a company press release, First Solar CEO Mike Ahearn said the project "is an encouraging step forward toward the mass-scale deployment of solar power worldwide to help mitigate climate change concerns." Prior to Tuesday's announcement, the largest single photovoltaic power plant in the world was another First Solar project, the 550-megawatt Topaz solar farm in California's Mojave Desert.

--Craig Pittman

Florida's solar program as popular as "Cash for Clunkers" -- and keeps going broke too

 Sure, not everybody likes the "Cash for Clunkers" program (like Sen. Mel Martinez, for instance). But there's no denying that it's popular -- so popular that it ran out of cash in four days and needed an additional infusion of money.

Turns out there's a program in Florida with a similar popularity problem.

"The Florida solar rebate program is so successful that it keeps running out of money, forcing Florida residents and businesses that install solar energy systems to gamble on the possibility that they’ll never see the state’s promised payback," the South Florida Business Journal reports.

The Journal explains: "For those willing to purchase solar photovoltaic panels, the state promises a cash rebate that can comprise 40 percent to 50 percent of a system’s total cost. Add that to a 30 percent federal tax break and the incentive to go solar is stronger than ever, South Florida solar business owners say."

But the three-year-old program currently has a $7 million backlog for approved rebates that haven't been paid yet. About $5 million in federal stimulus funds is being funneled into the program this year and another $9.4 million more expected, the Journal reports.

“We’ve been victims of our own success,” said Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, a solar energy supporter, told the paper. “There hasn’t been enough money to sustain the amount of people who want to apply.”

[Times photo by Lara Cerri]

--Craig Pittman

U.S. subsidizes renewable energy for $36B -- but spurns nuke project

The U.S. Department of Energy is making available $36 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects and for modernizing the electricity grid, the Associated Press reports.

"The government-supported loans are expected to help companies involved in solar, wind, biofuels and other renewable energy projects get private financing," says AP. "It also aims to spur investments in power grid improvements."

"These investments will be used to create jobs, spur the development of innovative clean energy technologies and help ensure a smart, strong and secure grid that will deliver renewable power more effectively and reliably," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement.

But the DOE hasn't been so giving when it comes to a $3.5-billion nuclear-enrichment plant in Ohio, notes the Washington Post.

"The Energy Department said that the proposed plant, which would use a series of giant centrifuges to enrich uranium for nuclear power plants, was not ready for commercial production and therefore ineligible for the loan guarantees," the Post reported.

So the owner, Maryland-based USEC, plans to suspend the project. Company CEO John K. Welch said he was "shocked" by the Energy Department decision, especially since President Obama had endorsed the project while campaigning in Ohio last year.

"It is unclear how DOE expects to find innovative technologies that assume zero risk," Welch said.

--Craig Pittman

Hot solar manufacturer also produces lots of hazardous waste

Last year, at a ribbon-cutting for the state-subsidized plant, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick called Evergreen Solar as “one of the companies that’s going to help us get clean energy right.” The company boasts that its manufacturing process "has the smallest carbon footprint in the industry."

Massachusetts is such a big supporter of the company that there's been talk of using millions of dollars in federal stimulus funding to add as much as 30 megawatts of solar power capacity at public facilities statewide, boosting Evergreen Solar's stock.

However, according to the Boston Herald, Evergreen Solar is "on its way to becoming one of the state’s top producers of hazardous waste."

"The company generated more than a million pounds of hazardous waste last year, according to a report filed this week with the state Department of Environmental Protection, even though its new $450 million factory ... wasn’t operating at full capacity," the Herald reported.

“It’s the other side of this whole clean energy push,” Liz Harriman, deputy director of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, told the paper. “Even so-called clean manufacturing uses a lot of nasty chemicals."

The plant is currently running at 40 percent capacity, the paper reported. Once it's at 100 percent, "making some 780,000 solar panels a year, sources say it could be among the state’s top three creators of hazardous waste," the Herald said.

[Image: Evergreen Solar]

--Craig Pittman

DeserTec: German companies planning to make electricity in the Sahara

Top German firms are planning a joint venture to generate electricity for Europe in the Sahara desert of North Africa using solar power, according to various media reports today.

The 20 or so firms, including Siemens and Munich Re, hope to form a consortium to invest $560 billion dollars in the project, known as Desertec.
It wants to build a series of solar thermal power installations in the desert, according to insurance giant and consortium head Munich Re. (See details on Desertec on this Munich RE website) They would be linked by high voltage transmission cables, running under the Mediterranean Sea to the European grid system.
Companies from other countries, including Spain, Italy, and the US, have also expressed interest.
The project could provide around 15 percent of Europe's electricity needs, generating 100 gigawatts of electricity, the equivalent of 100 power plants, according to this Bloomberg report.

- David Adams, Times staff writer

Republicans draft alternative energy bill favoring nuclear and increased oil and gas drilling

House Republicans are drafting their own energy legislation which is in sharp contrast to the Democrat's bill (Waxman-Markey) which is already being discussed in committee.
The Republican alternative relies on nuclear power, setting a goal of building 100 reactors over the next 20 years. Though it does include renewables like wind, solar and biomass, it would also provide incentives for increased oil and gas production, including oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
Unlike the Democrats proposal, it does not include a cap and trade mechanism to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases.

- David Adams, Times staff writer

Big solar investment yields nothing but pocketbook pain for Sarasota rancher

A Sarasota County rancher who spent half a million dollars for one of the largest private solar projects in Florida thought she would see big savings on energy costs. Instead, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports, "Mary Clark's 300-panel solar array has saved little. Florida Power & Light buys the excess energy from Clark's ranch and sells it back to her for twice as much."

This is a pretty inconvenient truth about solar: The law doesn't exactly encourage its use, even thought this is the Sunshine State. As you might expect, this has soured Clark on her big solar experiment.

"Instead of looking at this thing with pride, I get sick to my stomach," Clark, 88, told the paper. "I stepped up. I put up the biggest rig of anybody, and I had visions of being a model that people could learn from. But that isn't the case at all."

What FPL is doing to the Triple J Ranch is legal, the paper found, but "the charges reveal flaws in a new state law designed to promote solar power by reimbursing private producers for their excess energy."

How did it happen? Instead of spreading the solar panels across Clark's ranch so they would feed into each of her nine electric meters, "Greenlaw Solar Group installed the panels in clusters of 150 on two horse stables with low-pitched roofs, feeding into two meters." Clark and her contractor thought FPL could combine her nine meter bills into one and deduct from her total power bill the solar energy she produced at the retail rate of 12 cents per kilowatt hour.

However, a 1969 state law forbids doing that. And instead of deducting anything off Clark's bills, FPL sends her a check at the end of the year -- for 6 cents per KW/hour, half what she's being charged.

"No matter how you slice it, it's the right thing to do," Clark said. "But if they want more people to get involved, it has to be a lot easier."

[AP photo of Al Gore's solar panels]

Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer

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