Sunny Outlook For Solar Power

The best things in life are free and that’s certainly true when it comes to solar energy and the potential benefits it offers to the world, in particular the United States, one of the largest energy consumers on the planet.

President Obama’s recent announcement that the government will award $2 billion for new solar plants comes as much-needed welcome news amid all the political uproar about out-of-control government spending. If this particular spending of taxpayer money works as planned, it will create thousands of new jobs and increase the use of renewable energy sources.

Two companies will receive money from the president's $862 billion economic stimulus. Abengoa Solar will build one of the world's largest solar plants in Arizona and create 1,600 construction jobs; Abound Solar is building plants in Colorado and Indiana.

The Obama administration says those projects will create more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs, according to the Associated Press.

Our politicians have jawed about ending our dependence on foreign oil since 1973-74, when the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) embargo jacked prices and created a shortage that led, among other things, to gasoline rationing at the pumps. Some folks may remember the odd/even license plate system for vehicle refueling?

While technology in all areas, including solar, has continued to evolve since the 1970s, our attitudes remain locked in the thinking of the previous century when it comes to the use of fossil fuels. That’s dangerous for America because many of our enemies sit on the largest oil supplies.

The growing interest in electric hybrid cars and windmill farms are good transitional steps that can be complemented by our country’s investment in widespread development of solar power. Individually, these things are a drop in the bucket but combined they could really reduce our use of oil (and minimize the need for more offshore drilling rigs?).

Abound Solar, a manufacturer of low-cost, cadmium telluride, thin-film photovoltaic solar modules, said in a news release that it would use the U.S. Department of Energy’s conditional commitment to the company for a $400 million, seven-year loan guarantee to expand its solar module manufacturing capabilities.

Colorado-based Abound Solar will use the DOE funds to increase production of its thin-film photovoltaic modules at an existing manufacturing plant and to establish a second manufacturing plant that will create more than 1,200 high-tech jobs in Colorado and Indiana, while “driving down the cost of solar power for its United States and international customers,” company officials say.

Abound Solar, which has raised about $200 million in venture capital and private equity since its founding in 2007, built its first production line in Longmont, Colo., and began commercial operations. Abound anticipates using $100 million of the U.S. loan proceeds to increase the capacity of its existing Longmont facility to 200 megawatts per year by the end of 2011.

The company plans to invest the balance of the guaranteed loan to support construction of a larger manufacturing facility in Tipton, Ind. When both plants are complete, Abound Solar will be able to produce more than 840 megawatts of solar modules annually.

“The DOE loan guarantee program is essential to helping companies like Abound Solar scale-up innovations in photovoltaic manufacturing that are critical to reducing the cost of alternative energy,” says Tom Tiller, Abound Solar president and CEO. “When Abound opened its first manufacturing plant in 2009, we committed to providing high-performing, lower-cost modules to our customers; DOE is helping us keep that promise. The proceeds of this loan will build on the momentum we have already established and confidently expand our operations,’’ Tiller says.

The DOE has offered a conditional commitment for a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to Abengoa Solar, headquartered in Denver. The loan will support the construction and start-up of Solana, a 250-net megawatt concentrating solar power plant in Arizona, a facility the company claims to be the largest of its type in the world.

Santiago Seage, CEO of Abengoa Solar, says “this conditional guarantee could allow us to start construction of Solana this year.”

Vice President Kate Maracas says “the building of Solana will also create between 1,600-1,700 new construction jobs, and operation of the plant will add another 85 permanent jobs. These construction and operating jobs will create a few thousand additional indirect jobs. Taken together, 98% of the jobs created by Solana will be American jobs – primarily from Arizona, and a smaller portion from neighboring states.”

There’s no doubt solar energy projects are, pardon the pun, basking in the sun these days. Take for example SolarWorld’s pitch by Larry Hagman, who played Texas oil tycoon J.R. Ewing in the hit 1970s shows Dallas and also starred in I Dream of Jeannie in the 1960s.

Hagman is calling for people to embrace solar technology as part of a new "Shine, Baby, Shine" ad campaign for the Oregon-based solar panel manufacturer which employs 2,700.

"In the past, it was always about the oil. The oil was flowing and so was money. I quit years ago but I'm still in the energy business. There's always a better alternative. Shine, baby, shine!" Hagman, 78, says in a commercial posted on the SolarWorld website, before cackling happily.

The ad shows him looking at a portrait of himself as Ewing, exiting his hillside estate in Ojai, Calif., where he lives with wife Maj, and looking up at a red roof containing a solar panel.

Hagman is a longtime advocate of renewable energy and owns one of the largest U.S. residential solar panel systems, which cost him $750,000 when he bought it in 2003. He says they reduced his annual power bill from $37,000 to $13 (no typo).

Commercials aside, solar energy offers U.S. consumers and businesses a reliable, cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels. Saving the planet and sparing your wallet: what a powerful combination!

As for me, I practice what I preach at writenowworks.com.