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New Jersey, California doing their part, but other states are dragging their feet

BY JOE TYRRELL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

SECOND IN A SERIES

As the United States casts around for clean, domestic sources of energy, New Jersey has become a national leader in solar power, surpassing states with far greater land area and more days of sunshine.

But being a leader in solar energy in America is a little like being the fastest Model T Ford or the best sounding gramophone: the world has moved on.

While far behind California, New Jersey ranks second among the states in the number of solar power sources connected to the power grid. The small state has more than 4,000 solar sources connected to the power grid, currently generating about 85 megawatts, or about 9 percent of the nation's total.

The state Board of Public Utilities has moved away from that approach, though, trying to create "a market-driven industry," said spokesman Doyal Siddell. The board established solar renewable energy credits, or SRECs, representing solar generating capacity. The idea is that investors will purchase them, helping producers expand, and profit when utilities buy more solar power.

New Jersey was one of a handful of states that launched successful solar power programs at a time when the federal government lacked a national renewable strategy, other than turning corn to ethanol.

About half the states have joined New Jersey in requiring utilities to add renewable energy to their portfolios. But in the United States, that is often defined as biofuels like ethanol, of dubious net benefit, plus wood, landfill gas and garbage.

As a result, the United States no longer is the leader in solar power.

"No, we're not, and it was kind of a missed opportunity," said Monique Hanis, communications director for the Solar Energy Industries Association in Washington, D.C. "We developed most of this technology and now it's being used in other countries."

In May, the Legislature of sun-broiled Texas again blocked bills to provide solar power incentives and add renewable energy to utility portfolios. Meanwhile, General Motors announced plans to build the world's biggest solar rooftop power station – two million square feet of panels – at its plant in Zaragoza, Spain.

At the same, legislators in the Sunshine State of Florida also refused to establish requirements for utilities to add renewable energy sources to their supplies.

Conversely, in the beginning of July, photovoltaics developer Opel International of Shelton, Ct., announced completion of the first phase of an innovative 440 kW solar system.

The new installation, which uses a tracking system to focus sunlight onto high efficiency solar cells, is already providing power to the grid and is scheduled for completion this fall. It is also being built in Spain, in partnership with Betasol.

Opel already has demonstrated smaller versions in Canada and South Korea and elsewhere, according to Frank Middleton, the company's vice president of marketing. While not large in terms of power plants, the technology has attracted wide interest in Europe and North Africa, he said.

"Once people heard about the new installation, we've had numerous contacts and visits," Middleton said.

The remaining sections should be finished by autumn, and the first section is already hooked into the grid, he said. But Opel does not have the only innovative solar plant going up in Spain.

Outside Seville, 600 rotating mirrors direct light to a 380-foot tower whose heat drives a steam turbine with a peak capacity of 11 megawatts of electricity. The "power tower" is one of nine planned by Abengoa Solar. Within four years, the network is expected to provide enough electricity for 153,000 homes.

Middleton touts technology advances, but he gives much of the credit to the Spanish government. Like many countries in Europe and Asia, Spain imposes "feed-in tariffs," which require utilities to buy specified amounts of power from clean energy producers at above-market rates.

The tariffs have turned solar power in Germany and wind power in Denmark into major sources of electricity. Spain started slower, but also has turned solar into a major contributor to its electricity stream, although its future is uncertain because of the scheduled sunset of the tariffs.

All three countries, and others around the world, launched the programs to address the issues underlying the search for clean energy: pollution from conventional fuels and rising global temperatures.

Although tariff particulars vary among countries, "I think it has resulted in a better system of incentives" than other approaches, Middleton said.

Solar power advocates acknowledge that in most of the world, their industry needs some form of support to be competitive with fossil fuels or nuclear power.

"From a purely cost perspective, any form of renewable energy is going to be two to five times as conventional energy sources," said John Crider, a strategic planning engineer for Gainesville Regional Utilities.

In March, the Florida city became the first American jurisdiction to establish a feed-in tariff to support alternative energy. The city has an unusual history of activism on climate issues, having ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which committed nations to reducing their emission of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, which contribute to global warming.

Despite the costs, Gainesville officials felt clean energy systems "would promote economic development in the community" Crider said. The city is in the unusual situation of having its own utility – the outcome of a century-old dispute over an $8 bill – and can consider the social benefits of its programs, he said.

Rebates, tax breaks, credits and other programs all have shortcomings, Crider said. Either the flow of money "can be interrupted by the budget cycle," or it pays for equipment and administration, not necessarily power production, he said.