Solar Energy Industry Faces Uphill Battle Amid Politics And Scandal
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 With blunt realism, Monday's opening session kicked off Solar Power International 2012 (SPI) in Orlando, Fla., with warnings of billion-dollar anti-solar political ads, presidential-election uncertainty, uncooperative utilities bent on undoing net-metering law, and even fraud within the solar sector itself. This negativity may seem out of place at a time when the industry just posted another record-breaking installation total - 742 MW - for the second quarter, according to recently released data from SEIA and SEPA. But as Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), reminded the crowd, complicated - even paradoxical times - are here for the solar market. Quoting the famous opening lines of Charles Dickens' novel A Tale Of Two Cities, he described the state of the industry as the "best of times" and "worst of times" - an "age of wisdom" and "an age of foolishness." "By now, you know that your business has matured," Resch said. "We're facing new challenges today." Even as solar installations grow to the point where the majority of U.S. residents now live in states with more than 50 MW installed, increasingly fierce political headwinds are now battering solar energy's image. "Our industry is under direct attack," Resch plainly stated. He noted that super-PACs funded by fossil-fuel industries have created an unprecedented volume of campaign ads slamming solar energy. In fact, 80% of the negative campaign ads so far have focused on clean energy, according to Resch. The ads mirror action in the halls of Congress, where bills to eliminate the critical investment tax credit (ITC) - among numerous other anti-renewables proposals - have been floated in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Despite all of the anti-solar noise on the airwaves and in Washington, the six industry executives who joined Resch and Julia Hamm, president and CEO of the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), at SPI's opening session disagreed about the degree to which the outcome of the 2012 U.S. presidential election will actually affect the solar sector. Tom Doyle, CEO of NRG Solar, predicted that if Republican nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan win the presidential election, the true impact on solar may be limited. States - particularly state-level renewable portfolio standards - drive the markets, he said. "As soon as the elections are over, common sense will set back in," added Jurgen Krehnke, president and general manager of SMA America. Eric Silagy, president of Florida Power & Light (FPL), forecasted that although the president himself will not drive solar policy much, he will set the tone in Washington, thus possibly determining whether the solar sector will continue to receive support. At least one fact is certain: "The Ryan budget calls for repealing all incentives for clean energy - not in 2016, but this year," Resch pointed out. Not the enemy? While outlining three potential scenarios for the solar market 20 years from now - ranging from solar as a mere fringe player to solar as the provider of 30% of the U.S.' electricity needs - SEPA's Hamm noted that in addition to both political and economic issues, utility-related issues could slow momentum and prevent the industry from seeing the more positive scenarios happen. Existing net-metering policy has helped support a number of PV installations. However, utility-led efforts to roll back or limit these policies will continue to pop up. Net metering, ultimately, will not be sustainable as a solar-utility business model once penetration levels reach a certain point, Hamm added. "Isn't it in the best interest of everyone to invest the time and effort today to develop a regulatory structure that allows for long-term solar-utility business model?" she asked. Hamm called on the industry to partner with utilities on creating a "utility of the future" - perhaps one that focuses on providing grid access and ancillary services rather than power. Krehnke compared distributed PV to digital music files, which emerged and grew to damage the long-standing record-company business model, forcing adaptation. "Distributed generation is clearly an interruption to the way that utilities work today," he said. Silagy insisted that utilities are not "the enemy," noting that FPL and other utilities have made major strides in adding solar power to their generation mix, even when customer priorities focus on reliability and price rather than emissions profiles. "It is short-sighted to generalize on utilities," he said. Furthermore, utilities and policymakers do not pose the only roadblocks to a successful solar sector. With installation growth comes an increased risk of greediness and dishonesty among solar companies themselves, Resch said. The incidence of questionable accounting practices - such as ITC fraud, basis inflation for Treasury 1603 grants, and leases with excessive escalation rates - has quietly been common knowledge in the industry, but at a time when solar's image is already under attack, these ethical violations will soon be exposed to the public. The next issue of Consumer Reports will feature a story calling the practices of certain solar firms "the biggest scam in the U.S. today," Resch warned. He urged attendees to play by the rules, noting that the industry's entire reputation is at stake. Any member caught violating SEIA's code of ethics will be immediately expelled from the organization, he added. With all of these challenges - both external and internal - can the solar sector emerge stronger? Most of the speakers and panelists agreed that the political uncertainty, utility controversies and ethics reinforcement all constitute necessary growing pains. "This is going to be a battle, and one that we must have," Resch said. |
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 | Rickresult | Reply |
| 12 Sep : 10:02 | ||
Solar Energy Industry Faces Uphill Battle Amid Politics And Scandal This article in a recent posting from "Think Progress" show s the lengths to which one oil company will go to influence state policy. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/09/11/821431/are-california-pacs-cloaking-chevrons-support-for-a-democrat-state-senator-opposed-to-climate-action/ Are California PACs Cloaking Chevron’s Support For A Democrat State Senator Opposed To Climate Action? Posted: 11 Sep 2012 07:46 AM PDT California has tight limits on how much corporations or unions can directly contribute to political candidates. But the state has no such limitations on how much these organizations can contribute to independent expenditure committees — creating an explosion of campaign spending in California that has been very difficult to track. Over the last decade, California has seen roughly $127 million funneled through independent expenditure committees (the equivalent of political action committees, or PACs) to candidates. While corporate interests are not directly funding candidates, these committees allow them to indirectly send money to campaigns. Examining the flow of money through various committees reveals just how opaque many of these contributions are. Let’s take a look at one California politician: State Senator Roderick Wright, a conservative Democrat who represents the state’s 25th district located in Los Angeles. Senator Wright is a vocal critic of policies to reduce global warming pollution. Last month, Wright held a hearing in the Senate Select Committee on California Job Creation and Retention, in which he slammed California’s carbon reduction policy, AB 32, also known as the Global Warming Solutions Act. That law, passed in 2006, establishes a cap and trade program designed to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Wright used the hearing to criticize the cap and trade program as an economic disaster for California, while reportedly questioning the existence of global warming. Senator Wright was also the only Democrat to attend a March hearing in which Lord Monckton — one of the most widely-discredited climate deniers — testified to the California legislature in opposition to pricing carbon. Wright used the opportunity to claim AB 32 was like telling manufacturers “you should get out” of the state. Having a Democrat critical of such a progressive climate law in California could be a key asset to energy companies that would be impacted by a price on carbon. And an analysis of campaign expenditures shows a curious relationship between Chevron, various expenditure committees, and Senator Wright. An examination of political spending from September of 2011 to May of 2012 shows that contributions from Chevron Corporation closely match contributions funneled through California expenditure committees that eventually made their way to Senator Wright through an organization called the Alliance for California’s Tomorrow. Here’s the timeline of contributions: September 14, 2011: Chevron contributes $375,000 to Jobs PAC, a political arm of the California Chamber of Commerce. September 30, 2011: Jobs PAC contributes $255,000 to California Now Independent Expenditure Committee. March 27, 2012: Chevron contributes $100,000 to Californians For Jobs And A Strong Economy. April 3, 2012: Chevron contributes $250,000 to California Now Independent Expenditure Committee. May 1, 2012: Californians For Jobs And A Strong Economy contributes $100,000 to Alliance For California’s Tomorrow. May 24, 2012: California Now Independent Expenditure Committee contributes $260,000 to Alliance For California’s Tomorrow. May 4, 2012 – May 29, 2012: Alliance for California’s Tomorrow contributes $424,130.71 to Senator Roderick Wright. Senator Wright’s office did not comment on the nature of the contributions. So what does all this mean? It simply proves these amorphous expenditure committees make it very difficult to know how much a company like Chevron is spending to support a candidate like Wright — a man who could potentially be a valuable Democratic ally. Here’s another example of this round-about spending: Jobs PAC, the California Chamber of Commerce’s committee heavily funded by Chevron and Philip Morris, reportedly funneled $35,000 to a Republican candidate running against Senator Wright in a June primary race. The Republican, Charlotte Svolos, was running in a heavily Democratic district, thus making her chances of winning in the general election next to nothing. Tim Herdt, the Sacramento Bureau Chief for the the Ventura County Star, offered this explanation for the expenditures: Wright is chairman of the Senate Governmental Organization Committee, which deals with all bills regulating alcoholic beverages, and also a member of the Senate Energy, Utilities and Commerce Committee, which deals with all bills involving energy issues. The only potential threat to Wright’s re-election would be if he is opposed by another Democrat on the November ballot. So why would the Chevron-funded PAC support a token Republican candidate in a Senate race? The only explanation is to help Wright by trying to make sure Svolos gets enough votes in the primary to finish a distant second, but ahead of the other Democrat. The expenditure on Svolos’ behalf is cynically manipulative. The other Democrat in the race, progressive Paul Butterfield, came in third in the primary, thus making Wright’s re-election almost certain. As we see nationally after the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, there are myriad ways corporate interests in California can influence politics through unlimited contributions to these committees. It’s impossible to draw a definitive conclusion about the dollars flowing from Chevron through these groups to Senator Wright. But it’s more proof of the sketchy, opaque influence of special interests on elections. | ||
| synergy99@comcast.net | Reply |
| 12 Sep : 11:42 | ||
Solar Energy Industry Faces Uphill Battle Amid Politics And Scandal Come on guys! It's not that bad. Forget about the political stuff. Way too much time and energy is being wasted on "policy." This amounts to nothing more than pandering for the purpose of staying attached to the tit of government subsidies and that is what is holding us back! We need to grow up and make it on our own and I firmly believe that can very soon happen without ITC. Mark my words, you'll be amazed to see what happens when ITC goes away. On balance it'll be a huge positive. | ||
| CaptD | Reply |
| 13 Sep : 12:24 | ||
Solar Energy Industry Faces Uphill Battle Amid Politics And Scandal The entire Solar Industry should welcome with open arms the Anti-Nuclear reactor protestors (and join them in demanding an end to nuclear), because they are the reason that nuclear is losing market share despite a huge PR nuclear feel good campaign... Once Solar (of all flavors) gets rolling then there will be no stopping the conversion from first Nuclear, then Coal then even Gas as ever more folks demand that their Utilities get onboard. The USA cannot afford a Trillion Dollar Eco-Disaster like Fukushima, yet the USA has MANY reactors that are a meltdown away from becoming another Fukushima! Why is the Solar Industry not more vocal? | ||
| jg | Reply |
| 13 Sep : 14:39 | ||
Solar Energy Industry Faces Uphill Battle Amid Politics And Scandal CaptD: I think the solar industry is not more vocal because we don't have the money. We spend our time trying to bring down costs, find financing, build great projects, satisfy our customers, and work with the utilities to create fair rules. We don't have the kind of money the oil and gas industry has to pay lobbyists. | ||
| Steven | Reply |
| 16 Sep : 09:19 | ||
Solar Energy Industry Faces Uphill Battle Amid Politics And Scandal Let's face it renewable Solar energy became a political issue when Ron Regan moved into the White house and removed all the hot water collectors from the roof. From that day forward it has been Democrats Vs Republicans on all renewable energy sources. I am really sick of it. SPI did not help matters by asking Bill Clinton to provide a political spin and his thoughts on the future of the Industry. All sources of renewable energy should be on the table without lobbyist and corrupt politicians. ! There I said it and I am a Republican. Romeny & Ryan need to come out of the darkness. | ||
| Gmo0ney | Reply |
| 18 Sep : 17:30 | ||
Solar Energy Industry Faces Uphill Battle Amid Politics And Scandal I work for a solar panel company. I pre-qualify homeowners. I know it's a scam. it know it's all politics to make Solar look bad. But hey. I want money. This is a legitimate conartist job. We prey on suckers. This is not good in the long run but someone else will fix it. That's the America philosophy. God bless us. Money over everything. | ||
| barit1 | Reply |
| 08 Dec : 09:42 | ||
Solar Energy Industry Faces Uphill Battle Amid Politics And Scandal Aw, come on! Oil and gas are certainly mature industries, and Mr. Resch claims solar as well. And as mature industries, all should be able to succeed in the free-market world, devoid of government tax incentives or other favoritism. Supply and demand are not "dirty words"! (...and this applies to corn ethanol and wind as well. How can any of these claim to be other than mature?) | ||
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