ENERGY - Future of Solar Power 10/2011

"How Bright Is Solar Power's Future in a Post-Solyndra America?" PBS Newshour 10/18/2011

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (Newshour): Next, the future for solar energy in the U.S., now clouded by the collapse of a California company backed by government loans.

NewsHour correspondent Spencer Michels reports.

SPENCER MICHELS (Newshour): The solar industry boasts that it's growing fast, installing roof top panels that turn sunlight into electricity at a record pace. This year, it expects to create enough electricity to power 350,000 homes, double last year's rate. And that, say proponents, saves a lot of fossil fuel.

LYNDON RIVE, SolarCity: The average cost of electricity would be just under 10 cents.

SPENCER MICHELS: Lyndon Rive is the founder and CEO of the privately held company SolarCity in an industry that gets various forms of government subsidies, including tax credits and loan guarantees, that make it cheaper for companies to borrow money to expand.

LYNDON RIVE: The solar industry has grown 60 percent year on year. Last year, it grew 50 percent. This year, it's grown 60 percent. There's over 5,000 companies that are in the solar industry.

SPENCER MICHELS: His firm, SolarCity, operating in 11 states, is the largest solar installer in the U.S. with 1,300 employees, 500 of them hired in the last 12 months. Nationally, solar employs 100,000 workers.

Yet industry groups and leaders have seen trouble signs ahead for a while.

Dan Richer, director of Stanford's Center for Energy Policy, says the industry is at risk.

DAN REICHER, Stanford's Center for Energy Policy: We may not see the loan guarantee program extended. We may see a major cut in federal support for clean energy research and development. There's going to be a major battle next year over extending some key tax credits for clean energy.

COMMENT:

Another excerpt

ERIC EISENHAMMER, Coalition of Energy Users: The green energy industry involves a lot of hedge fund managers who are making a lot money off it. And a lot of these guys are also making large donations to politicians and then they're getting these massive taxpayer-funded subsidies in return. But it's for an economic model that doesn't really pan out.

Green energy is a few times more expensive than conventional energy. So, I don't believe that it really competes very well in a free market.

Note that "Coalition of Energy Users" is a conservative group.

Right, and the oil industry and "traditional" energy industry, are NOT making large donations and getting big subsidies?

Wonder where the "Coalition of Energy Users" gets much of its funding? Big-oil? Nuclear power industry?

Also, a NEW industries with new technology is supposed to have competitive costs?! ALL new industries, or new products, have high initial costs. The cost comes down as the industry, or product sales, grow.