Off to Europe! Solar Advances in England, Germany, Austria

February 26th, 2013


I hope everyone is staying warm during this harsh winter month. Spring is right around the corner, and will bring lots of sun for our homes, smiling faces, and roof-mounted PV panels!  I am about to embark on a wonderful three week journey to europe with my family, where I will use my time wisely to scout the solar communities there and see how popular they are compared to what we see in the good ole' USA.

I will post when I able to during the trip, and try to include as many photos as I can for your enjoyment. Take care and I will see all of you in three weeks!

The Big Push: What Drives Solar Markets?

February 11th, 2013

Let's start the day off with a brief educational lesson, shall we? The image shown below is a global insolation map.  What it describes is the total average amount of 'peak solar activity' that strikes any region of the world during a typical day. The lighter regions towards the earth's poles receive less sun per day, while the darker red regions near the equator receive on average the most amount of sun per day.  In other words, It gets really sunny around the middle, Africa, the Middle East, and Central America. Have you ever wondered why there isn't more solar electricity production in regions with the most sun? It would make sense, right? The reason why this is not the case goes beyond just a simple matter of placing panels where it's sunny. I'll explain below. :) 

World Insolation Map. (Source: www.oynot.com)

Do you know which country has the highest solar capacity in the world? The answer is Germany. They are the world's leader in newly installed solar panels, and have the highest amount of their nation's electrical needs come from solar electricity, among world solar leading countries. The United States, despite our enormous push over the last few years to build renewable resources, ranked only 5th in new installations by the end of 2011.  And the reason for this has nothing to do with how much sun is shining on Germany. In fact, our beer drinking buddies receive about the same amount of sun per year as typically seen in the pacific northwest states of Washington or Oregon. Germany's success in renewable solar electricity is a result of an aggressive and popular government policy.

Source: World Energy Outlook 2012

In the 1990's, there was a strong push in the German government to go green and produce more electricity from renewable sources. Laws were changed to make it easier for citizens and businesses to build solar on their rooftops, and feed-in tariffs were enacted so individuals could sell their electricity back to the utility at a set price for several years. The resulting effects from the law changes made it financially advantageous for people to use solar power. Other big moves like providing money for renewable energy research, and setting goals to eliminate nuclear power have driven up the solar market and dramatically reduced solar panel and installation prices within the country. Despite our recent successes in solar in the U.S., we are still in an infancy stage of growth, and therefore much more progress must be made to bring us to the next level of renewable energy capacity. New policies that favor growth in the renewable sector must be pushed forward, and soft costs like permitting restrictions, interconnection requirements, and legal paperwork must be made cheaper, streamlined, and more available to the public. These will all eventually happen, but the sooner they are put in place, the better it will be for the public.

Finally, there has been a great deal of skepticism as to the cost of solar, the feasibility, energy storage, and overall plausibility that it could be a major source of electrical power generation. Also that the role of government in driving solar should be limited, relying on free market policies to do the majority of the work. I believe the biggest evidence of proof that government can play a positive role in solar energy is the drop in price over the past few years. Since 2006 the cost of solar has dropped more than 50%. And experts suggest there is still much more room to lower costs in the future. The same certainly cannot be said about the price of gas, which has more than doubled in the last 4 years.  As for limited government roles in energy policy, the federal government is currently subsidizing an estimated $10-52 billion dollars annually for fossil fuels, an amount that far exceeds what is currently provided for solar and renewables. At current price trends, if solar were to be placed on a level playing field as fossil fuels, it would be cheaper for everyone to switch to solar electricity.

Tax Subsidies for Fossil Fuels far outweigh current Federal Solar Funding (Source: peswiki.com)

Thanks for visiting, I hope you enjoy the reads and continue to support our push for solar energy as a major player in global electricity production. For further news links and information, please visit www.risingphoenixsolar.com. Have a sunny weekend!