Solar Energy News
Top Administration and Business Leaders Convene to Advance New Clean Energy Technology; Clifford Champions Distributed Generation
Standard Solar, Inc. CEO Tony Clifford addressed top Administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, during the White House's Clean Energy Economy Forum held today in the nation's capital. Clifford joined business leaders and experts from the Federal government to develop strategies that grow clean energy manufacturing and services to create jobs and build the economy. "Policies that support Distributed Generation will create green jobs more quickly; and those jobs will be distributed throughout the country. It is imperative that we recognize that cost competitiveness with the grid will create an enormous number of new green jobs; and our policies should be focused on the quickest way to get to cost competitiveness."
Clifford urged policymakers not to fall victim to conventional thinking that the best place for wind farms is in the northern Great Plains and the best place for solar is in the Southwest.
"Photovoltaics and solar thermal are inherently distributed sources of power that can be used anywhere in the United States, not just the sunny Southwest. Since panels can be installed on rooftops, parking lots and ground-mounted, they provide power where it is being consumed – without the need to build expensive, long lead time transmission and distribution (T & D) systems," he stated.
Clifford said this on-site production of power, known as "Distributed Generation" will emerge as a prominent energy source that competes at the customer’s retail cost of power, not the utility’s cost of generation. "Distributed Generation systems in net-metered applications will be cost-competitive far sooner than huge centralized systems that rely on new T & D infrastructure," he continued.
"Policies that support Distributed Generation will create green jobs more quickly; and those jobs will be distributed throughout the country. It is imperative that we recognize that cost competitiveness with the grid will create an enormous number of new green jobs; and our policies should be focused on the quickest way to get to cost competitiveness," he concluded.
The Forum was held to discuss strategies to advance the development and commercialization of new clean energy technologies, supporting the creation and growth of emerging industries and small and medium enterprises, promoting exports, and training workers for the clean energy economy. Administration officials also discussed the need for comprehensive energy and climate legislation that will help the nation transition to a clean energy economy, create jobs and enhance America’s competitiveness.
About Standard Solar
Standard Solar is a full-service developer, integrator and installer of solar electric systems for academic, commercial, government and residential customers throughout Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.StandardSolar.com.
Spanish company eyes Arizona solar plant
A Spanish company is reportedly planning to build $1 billion solar energy plant in Arizona.
According to a report in the Phoenix Business Journal, the facility would be constructed near Kingman by Albiasa, a Spanish company that is said to have other operations in the U.S. The publication notes that the project would generate about 200 megawatts of electricity and would employ 100 full time workers upon completion around 2013.
The facility would use solar thermal applications, which have been an increasingly important source of energy in countries like Spain. With that technology, a large number of mirrors concentrate sunlight onto tubes of fluid that run turbines when heated.
The report also notes that another company, Abengoa Solar, is in the middle of its own plan to construct a 250 megawatt solar thermal plant in the state.
Solar energy supporters have long pointed to Arizona's considerable annual sunshine as a reason to develop its resources further. One useful solar energy resource the state has to offer potential companies is a nationally known solar power laboratory.