Thanks to the CarbonWarRoom, which provides this cool widget tracking the number of solar watts being installed in the USA this year…
Monthly Archives: August 2009
More sunshine falling than rain on the parade of PV across Spain (& Planet Earth)
There’s been a lot of nabobs of negativity around the solar space in recent weeks because it has been hard going for some companies. And I don’t want to belittle their pain – manufacturers have big stockpiles and if they’re publically listed their share price is down; project developers can’t get bank finance or government cash fast enough, despite the stimulus; and installers may be seeing some consumer sentiment dropping in places.
But please don’t think that’s all she wrote. The future of photovoltaics is bright as the sun!
Just for one example of how serious a contender PV is becoming, consider Spain. Right now that beautiful country is copping a lot of blame because of changes in the incentive structure that have led to a major drop in solar sales there, large and small. Indeed, little old Spain is being held responsible for most of the oversupply currently being experienced by the PV manufacturing industry, which I think could be seen differently…
Another perspective on Spain is that it has championed solar and is way ahead of most of the world. As of May 09, 4% of electricity produced in the country came from el sol. Four percent! Little over 5 years ago there was almost no solar in the country so they have gone from zero to solar hero in almost no time at all. We’d love for them to continue to grow at this rate and it is a shame the government has pulled back on some market support schemes.
But if we take that example, of a small country going to 4% we can see the trajectory that will get us to 40% in a couple of decades, which is where we need to be to stop climate change. By then all these bumps along the road will look like shadows cast by clouds. But before I get too poetic about rain falling mainly on a plain in Spain, check out this video from our friends at Solon whose motto is “Don’t leave the planet to the Stupidâ€: Hail - Return of the Sun
(Please note this blog was first posted by the good people of Green Options - see http://cleantechnica.com/2009/08/19/more-sunshine-falling-than-rain-on-the-parade-of-pv-across-spain/#more-3153)
The rebate drop is coming!
We’re giving a heads up to all our prospective customers that the rebates available under the California Solar Initiative in PG&E’s utility territory are about to fall. We figured we should blog it as well because it is an important fact for anyone considering solar to know. Here’s why:
The rebate you get for going solar covers a good chunk of the cost of your system. The way the policy that creates this rebate was designed, it drops over time as more and more solar gets installed. This incentivises more solar to be installed sooner - and indeed it has.
In PG&E’s turf here in Northern California, incentive levels are currently $1.55/Watt and will soon be falling to $1.10/W – a 30% drop in rebates. We’re monitoring this carefully and updating this page as often as possible to provide you with the most up to date information on this rebate reduction.
The way it works is that the incentive level falls over time as more solar is installed per utility territory, and we are approaching the next drop. This will reduce the incentive for the average system size by about $2,000 and potentially much more for larger systems.
In PG&E’s territory there are 5 remaining megawatts of solar that will receive the current incentive, and the company received 0.5 MW of applications in a single week in July (applications will speed up considerably as we get closer to the drop).
What this means is that the best time to go solar is today. This is from an economic as well as environmental point of view. Some of the hardware costs are falling and Sungevity recently passed on the benefits in a price reduction for our systems. But don’t wait till the price comes down further and risk missing out on the best rebate you can get, which is while it is still at $1.55/ watt.
Remember, if you are considering buying from us or any vendor, your rebate is only reserved once all the application documents are submitted to PG&E and they review and approve them. So you better make your decision as soon as you can! Shine on.
