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SLevy | April 21, 2013
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Retail Electric Business Predicted to Loose Market Share

The Edison Electric Institute has issued a report predicting that there will be a change in the market share for retail electric business if the present trend towards distributed renewable energy continues at it’s rapidly changing mix of standard electric power production and the increasing percentage of renewable energy sources, particularly solar PV continues to evolve. The report dated January 2013 entitled “Disruptive Challenges: Financial Implications and Strategic Responses to a Changing Retail Electric Business” was authored by Peter Kind of Energy Infrastructure Advocates. The key premise is that the increasing inclusion of solar PV will reduce market share for the electric power industry which will lead to higher risk for investors. The result of a higher risk will be increased cost for borrowing money for the power industry. The report sites two similar industries that were drastically changed by market forces and regulatory changes: the airlines and the telephone (AT&T) industry. The report concludes that near term actions are to “institute a monthly customer service charge”, develop a tariff structure to reflect the cost of service and value provided to DER (solar PV) customers and to “analyze revision of net metering programs in all states so that self-generated DER (solar PV) sales to utilities are treated as supply-side purchases at a market-derived price.”

It is my suggestion that the industry adapt itself to incorporate solar PV in such a way as to improve its retail electric business position. My advice to the industry: constructively adapt renewables into your energy mix: it is not a curse but a blessing.

The full report is available on the web at: http://www.eei.org/ourissues/finance/Documents/disruptivechallenges.pdf

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, Energy Storage, financing, Global, Grants and Incentives, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Solar Performanc, Technology, Tennessee |
SLevy | April 15, 2013
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Solar PV Training in Knoxville Saturday May 11th

John Kemmery, our latest business member, is hosting a solar PV training workshop at the Jubilee Banquet Hall, 6700 jubilee Center Way, Knoxville for the beginner planning to break into Sales or Installation. The workshop schedule is below:
8 am – 8:30 am Registration
8:30 am Introduction and Overview with films and slides
9:30 – 10 am Systems available by John Kemmery
10:00 am – 11:00 am System Sizing with Garret Hendrix PE
11:00 – 12:00 Requirements for Connection to the Grid (John Kemmery and Garret Hendrix)
12:00 – 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 – 2 :00 pm Newest developments; Best choice options (John Kemmery)
2:00 – 4:00 pm Comprehensive off grid Program Design, sizing including proper equipment selection
4:00 – 4:30 Open discussion

Cost for an individual is $90.
Cost for two or more reservations is $80 each

Who should attend?
Green businesses
Engineers planning to be working with PV equipment
Architects
Contractors planning to add PV installing to their business
Homeowners thinking about adding solar for their home
Business owners planning for a future PV system
Electricians needing the tools and information to be successful in expanding into PV
Sales people needing an understanding of PV in order to sell PV systems
Anyone wishing to learn the newest advancements

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, East Tennessee News, financing, jobs, Renewable Energy, Solar, Technology, Tennessee, Training |
SLevy | April 12, 2013
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IMPORTANT Proposed Rule Changes to the Department of Agriculture REAP Program

The proposed rule for REAP has been posted to the Federal Register at the link below. The proposed rule will revise the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) found in 7 CFR part 4280, subpart B. There is now an opportunity to comment on this regulation in order to provide suggestions to potentially change components of the program. Please review this document closely and if you have any comments to make, please do so. There is instruction within the document to provide your public comment on the program. The deadline for public comment is June 11th.

Go To: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-04-12/pdf/2013-07273.pdf

Some of the changes:
The Agency is proposing to allow the purchase of refurbished renewable energy systems and the retrofitting of an existing renewable energy system as eligible projects under this subpart.
For energy efficiency improvement projects, the Agency is proposing ensuring that energy efficiency improvements use less energy on an annual basis.
Simplifying the energy efficiency improvement technical report; simplifying the technical report for renewable energy system projects with total project costs of $200,000 or less

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Grants and Incentives, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Solar Thermal, Technology, Uncategorized |
SLevy | April 10, 2013
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Empowered by the Past: Red State Co-ops Go Green

Charles Cotton never gave much thought to the fact that he owns a piece of Jackson Energy Cooperative, the utility that delivers power to his home in Berea, Ky. But last November, Cotton’s membership paid off in a way he hadn’t expected: The cooperative gave him an energy upgrade, installing a plastic moisture barrier underneath his house and replacing his old furnace with an efficient heat pump. Jackson Energy’s status as a cooperative led directly to Cotton’s retrofit. It is one of four rural electric cooperatives participating in a pilot program called How$martKY, run by the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED). The program will let Cotton slowly pay back the cost of the retrofit: His bill is smaller than before, but he’s actually paying a bit more than the cost of the electricity he uses. The extra charge is how he repays the cost of the retrofit. It’s a scheme called on-bill financing—a way for people of all financial backgrounds to reap the benefits of energy efficiency without a big up-front cost.

more

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Global, Grants and Incentives, jobs, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Technology, Tennessee, Training, West Tennessee News |
SLevy | April 8, 2013
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Solar Summit to Explore Past and Future of Solar Power in Tennessee

A UT group is partnering with the US Department of Energy and statewide leaders to explore the growing field of solar energy.

UT’s SunShot Initiative Rooftop Solar Challenge is sponsoring the Tennessee Solar Summit in Chattanooga on Wednesday and Thursday, April 10 and 11. The conference will be held at the Sheraton Read House.

The goal of the conference is to educate attendees about the past and future of solar energy in Tennessee. It will include several speakers and breakout sessions. Breakout sessions will include historic zoning and land issues, impact of solar energy on property appraisals, large-scale solar installations, and unique case studies.

“Attendees will meet the diverse group of solar stakeholders we have in Tennessee and form new partnerships to keep the momentum going in moving solar power forward in our state,” said Bruce Tonn, principal investigator for UT’s Rooftop Solar Challenge grant at the Howard Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.

original article

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, East Tennessee News, financing, Grants and Incentives, jobs, Middle Tennessee News, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Technology, Tennessee, West Tennessee News |
SLevy | April 3, 2013
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Citigroup: How solar module prices could fall to 25c/watt

Energy analysts at global investment bank Citigroup suggest that the cost of solar PV modules could fall beyond most expectations in coming years – and reach a cost of just 25c a watt by 2020. The US Department of Energy, for instance, says its Solar Sunshot program aims to get the cost of solar PV down to $1/watt by 2020 (50c/W for the modules, the rest in balance of systems costs) – a situation that would deliver energy at a levelised cost of around $60/MWh, making it cheaper than new coal and gas-fired generation.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance makes a similar forecast. Greentech Media recently lowered its forecast for solar modules to 42c/W by 2015. On the other hand, Australia’s official government forecaster, The Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics, suggests that the starting point is higher than most current estimates, and predicts solar PV will not fall much below $140/MWh by 2020, and then make little progress over the following decade.

Citigroup’s report paints a very different picture in the two scenarios painted by the Citi team led by Jason Channell.

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Global, jobs, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Technology, Tennessee, Training |
SLevy | March 30, 2013
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You Want to Know More In-Depth Information About Solar, Then Join the Solar MOOC Academy

Here is a website for all of our readers that want to enter the solar PV field but lack the funds to take formal courses. The Solar Academy is free and very intensive for the avid learner. Go to the following website and sign up. There are many topics covered, all important to the knowledge you will need to become a solar PV professional. That is not to say that this is the only pathway to learning the trade, because there are many training programs that will lead to NABCEP certification. But I am saying that the solar academy will give you a exposure to help solidify your interest in becoming a solar professional.

The sign up page is here

Go to the following website to learn more about the free solar training

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, jobs, Solar, Technology, Training |
SLevy | March 28, 2013
One comment

City to Require Solar in New Construction

Every new housing development must average 1 kilowatt per house. Not here, but in California. California is a light-year ahead of Tennessee and most of the country when it comes to solar acceptance.

The Lancaster, California City Council unanimously approved changes to the city’s zoning code that require housing developers to install solar with every new home they build.
This is the latest piece in what Republican Mayor R. Rex Parris described at the City Council meeting as a plan to make Lancaster “the solar capital of the universe.”
Lancaster’s now official Residential Zones Update specifies, along with a range of green building provisions, that new single family homes meet minimum solar system requirements in the same way that they must meet minimum parking space requirements.
“The purpose of the solar energy system standards,” it reads, “is to encourage investment in solar energy on all parcels in the city, while providing guidelines for the installation of those systems that are consistent with the architectural and building standards of the City.” It is further intended “to provide standards and procedures for builders of new homes to install solar energy systems in an effort to achieve greater usage of alternative energy.”
Residential homes on lots of 7,000 square feet or more must have a solar system of 1.0 kilowatts to 1.5 kilowatts. Rural residential homes of up to 100,000 square feet must have a system of at least 1.5 kilowatts.

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Global, Grants and Incentives, jobs, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Solar Performanc, Technology |
SLevy | March 27, 2013
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Nominate an expert to the TVA board — Are you kidding?

personal note: I would have never guessed that our U.S. Senators would oppose the nomination of one of this country’s most outstanding expert in the area of money saving energy efficiency. Why?? I ask each of our readers to let their two senators hear their opinion as the Brown nomination

Our Tennessee senators don’t like whom our president is trying to reappoint to the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors: an expert on energy issues. Dr. Marilyn Brown, a Georgia Tech professor and former research administrator at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory with a long list of work and research mostly ending in “energy efficiency,” has been re-nominated by President Obama to a term on the TVA board after she’d been vetoed here at home back in January.

The nomination, sent to Capitol Hill Thursday night, comes more than two months after Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker used Senate procedures to block Obama’s previous attempt to appoint her to a six-year term.

Brown, who came to the board in 2010 to fill out the a vacated term and served through the end of 2012, is widely recognized for her expertise in energy efficiency and other “sustainable” energy policies. She teaches in Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy after formerly working for the Department of Energy at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“This is another example of the Obama White House not listening,” Alexander said in a statement Friday.

“I told the White House in advance that the TVA board needs a nominee with a better understanding of the relationship between low electricity rates and better jobs in the Tennessee Valley. The Senate now has the responsibility to exercise its constitutional role of advice and consent on the nominee.”

Corker was even more critical.

“TVA needs leaders who enthusiastically support the mission of producing economical electricity and have an abiding appreciation of its important economic development role and impact on the well-being of Valley residents,” he said.

“Unfortunately, during my discussions with Dr. Brown, it was clear she does not share that point of view.”

original article here and Sundog Blog

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, East Tennessee News, Global, jobs, Middle Tennessee News, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Technology, Tennessee |
SLevy | March 25, 2013
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story about solar starting to break into the mainstream

Home Depot expands its solar service offerings to the East Coast by partnering with two other fast-growing providers, Sunrun and Clean Power Finance.
The experience of Roof Diagnostics Solar — a leading contractor partnering with Sunrun, Clean Power Finance, and Home Depot on the East Coast — offers a window into how these arrangements are boosting solar sales.
A year and a half ago, Roof Diagnostics participated in a Home Depot pilot program with one other company in fourteen New Jersey stores. It set out a kiosk with a laptop, 40-inch television, and a solar specialist who could do a simple assessment of a home from the store.
The immediate reaction was “explosive,” said Pegler Jr., with 68 sales coming in the first 60 days. A couple weeks later, they were given twenty-one stores. And the company will be offering solar in 100 locations by the end of the year in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts — with most of those kiosks located in the first aisle of the stores.

Four out of every ten people who visit the Home Depot kiosk sign up for a solar lease or power purchase agreement with Roof Diagnostics. Pegler Jr. believes it’s a sign that the Northeastern solar market is maturing. Because states like New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts have strong solar programs, consumers generally know about the opportunity. But seeing a kiosk in a Home Depot store can be the difference between someone thinking about solar and actually taking action.

original article

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Global, jobs, National, Political, PV Tech Newscast, Renewable Energy, Solar, Technology, Training |
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