You are here: Home › News and Resources › News › 2011 › September › 14 › Clean Tech Business Policy Update (September 14)

Clean Tech Business Policy Update (September 14)

by Fatima Khan — last modified September 14, 2011 11:42 PM
Filed Under:

Congressional Agenda for Fall 2011 Politico, 9/6/11

  • Reps. and senators returned to the halls of Capitol Hill last week with Democrats and Republicans alike preparing familiar energy plans for the months ahead.
  • Senate Democrats plan to push energy bills as part of larger jobs bills, with a focus on Senate Energy and Natural Resources measures such as a Home Star energy efficiency plan and billions in tax credits for advanced manufacturing and renewable energy.
  • House Republicans will continue to hammer away at EPA regulations, including hearings on Soyndra’s bankruptcy and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's plans to hold votes this fall to repeal the administration's '10 most harmful job-destroying regulations" - a list that will likely have plenty of space allotted to EPA actions.
  • As the prospects for continued stalemate seem likely, however, the legislative maneuverings are less policy initiatives than marketing tools heading into the 2012 election.

News Summary

Solyndra Fallout & A Way Forward

Government & Politics

  • Stung by the President on Air Quality, Environmentalists Weigh Their Options, NY Times
  • Bring Residential PACE Program Back to Life, The New Republic
  • PACE: Energy Projects Generate Jobs, The Hill
  • SolarCity Plans 160,000 Solar Energy Systems on Military Bases, Los Angeles Times
  • Patent Reform Passed by Congress, Signed by President, asdf, Sept
  • Cities Begin Planning for a Very Different Future, Marketplace Radio
  • Obama Decides Against Change in Ozone Standards, USA Today

Science, Jobs, & Investment

Solyndra’s Bankruptcy Dogpatch Strategies, 9/14/11

There are many views on why Solyndra’s bankruptcy happened and its impact on the political and business agenda of the clean energy sector. The company's records are under investigation by Congress and the FBI while its failure has become fodder for continued anti-clean tech attacks from legacy energy companies and politicians with various agendas. Clean tech must come to its own defense in blogs, op-eds, and on talking head TV as the public relations mess grows and the industry’s usual political and environmental allies are distracted by other things like their own 2012 election prospects and “higher priority” agenda items like a defense of the EPA and halting the tar sands pipeline across the Rocky Mountain West.  As Green Tech Media wrote on August 31st, “[M]ost coverage of the Solyndra news is likely to gloss over the market’s subtleties … the image of the U.S. solar industry is likely to be affected negatively in the minds of both policymakers and the general public in this post-Solyndra world.”

Articles

Republicans Suggest White House Rushed Solar Company’s Loans / NYTimes, Sept 14th

The collapse has turned what was once portrayed by some as a shining example of the promise of federal subsidies to stimulate economic growth through green jobs into a grim lesson in what others call the futility of federal meddling in the marketplace.  The US House Energy & Commerce subcommittee’s Republican staff members, in a memorandum issued at the hearing, said that e-mails among White House staff “raise questions as to whether the Solyndra loan guarantee was pushed to approval before it was ready in order for the Administration to highlight the stimulus.”

Democrats did not come to Solyndra’s defense but they did defend the idea of government help for the solar industry, arguing that China is doing so on a large scale and that the United States must compete.   Officials of the Energy Department’s loan office and the White House defended their decisions, which they said were carefully reviewed and not politically inspired.  A DoE officials said that Chinese companies had “flooded” the market, pushing down the price of solar equipment. A factor in Solyndra’s failure was relatively high production costs, but another was a surplus of solar panels, brought on by new Chinese production, and slack demand in Europe, which had been a fast-growing market. “This isn’t picking winners and losers — it is helping ensure that we have winners here at all,” he said.  See also, Los Angeles Times, Sept 12th and Wall Street Journal, Sept 9th

Another of Obama’s Green Energy Scams, Rush Limbaugh, Aug 31

The sun is still putting out much as it ever did, just like in Las Vegas, and yet they can't harness it. It's there every day. It doesn't cost anything. It's just there … you ask why can't we compete. We can. My question is (and I think this is the important one): How much are we taxpayers losing from all these so-called investments, as the libs call it? Because every one of these cockamamie ideas is one of theirs. They're all bombing out. They're all leading and contributing to deficits and debt, and it's all political. There's not one business reason to do any of this! There is no solar energy business out there. There is no wind energy business. This is all being done to be simply prop up an incompetent, man-child president … You know, I'm not a solar or wind expert, but when your primary source is still up there, and there's not a damn thing anybody can do to it, and you still can't make money? We're not there yet, is what tells me. We haven't figured out how to harness it yet.

Solyndra Puts Dept of Energy in Hot Seat, San Jose Mercury News, Sept 14

The Republican National Committee and other conservative critics have seized on Solyndra's implosion -- the term "Solargate" is already being used -- as evidence that President Barack Obama's original stimulus plan and the administration's support for clean technology are failed policies. "With taxpayers potentially on the hook for this half-billion dollar bust, it's time to sound the alarm about the remaining $10 billion in loan guarantees set to expire Sept. 30," Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said in a joint statement Tuesday.

Crystal Clear Lessons From Solyndra, Arno Harris, CEO of Recurrent Energy, August 31st

It would be a mistake to generalize from Solyndra's failure to indict the solar industry and solar policy as a whole. First, this is about one company failing in a market that has exceeded all expectations on cost reduction. Second, not all solar policy faces the same kinds of risks as the DOE loan guarantee program (LGP) … [T]he Investment Tax Credit, 1603 treasury grant program, and state-level renewable standards are much less risky. Solyndra's failure underscores just how successful the PV industry has been at cost reduction--and highlights the risks when governments try to pick winners and losers in highly competitive markets.

Will Opponents Celebrate Solyndra or Will We Learn Lessons? / Ctr. for Am. Progress, Sept 1st

The U.S. solar industry had $1.8 billion in net exports last year.  But it faces daunting challenges from both Chinese competitors and … budget cutters.  Not every U.S. company will survive global industry consolidation.  But the PV segment as a whole has seen more than 10% annual job growth since 2003 and is certain to continue being a big job creator — if the U.S. government doesn’t let the playing field tilt to foreign companies … [W]ith a glut of solar panels on the market today, depressed silicon prices, and the Chinese government lavishing huge amounts of subsidies on domestic manufacturers — 30 times the amount of loans as the U.S. in 2010 — Solyndra’s cost structure simply couldn’t compete.

China’s Commitment to Clean Energy, Greentech Media Chart, August 31st

gtm graphic

Gates, Doerr Push for Energy Innovation Before Congress, Politico, Sept 14

Bill Gates, John Doerr, and several other formidable technology industry leaders brought a simple message to Capitol Hill on Tuesday: Invest in a more expansive energy and technology policy, especially ARPA-E. At a briefing hosted by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Gates and other captains of industry unveiled a new report that highlights the need for an active government role in energy innovation, recommends ways to improve the effectiveness of government innovation programs, and highlights options to pay for energy innovation investments.

Hope Shines Through Bankruptcy Clouds For US Solar Sector, AOL Energy, Sept 6th

The August bankruptcy announcements by three solar companies is not a sign of imminent industry collapse, but the inevitable result of competition in a new and evolving market, according to industry representatives. [T]his is just part of the inevitable weeding out of firms that are unable to compete as the market landscape changes. Solyndra's bankruptcy was an anomaly. That's one of the gazillion technologies out there for solar. Some are going to make it, and some aren't.

US a Net Exporter of Solar Photovoltaics / SEIA & Greentech Media, Aug 29

With all the stories about China dominating the solar photovoltaics (PV) manufacturing sector, you might not think that America is a net exporter of solar products. But it is — to the tune of $1.8 billion. That’s a $1 billion increase over net exports documented in the solar sector last year.  See also, Center for American Progress

Solaria Seeks a Second Solar Factory Site / Oakland Tribune, August 31

California's regulatory and business climate -- criticized by some manufacturers as hostile to companies -- may have opened the door for Solaria to expand, both in Fremont and with its second factory.

Our Economy Can't Win a Thrown Fight, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Green for All, Sept 1st

Capitalism's survival of the fittest only works on a level playing field. Solyndra -- like many other clean energy companies -- are competing evenly in the United States, but on an extremely slanted field globally. Solyndra was facing, in particular, Chinese companies that received massive subsidies from the Chinese government. The investment our government made in Solyndra wasn't a hand-out; it was an attempt to help balance the playing field. But that attempt was one-tenth, one-twentieth what its Chinese competition saw. That Solyndra competed at all is remarkable and laudable.

Not Just Dems: GOP Also Has Solyndra Ties, National Journal, Sept 12th
The Republican Party is claiming the company is a "prime example of stimulus failure" and "taxpayer-funded cronyism" because one of the investors, George Kaiser, is an Obama fundraiser. However, Solyndra's top investors also include the Republican Walton family, and the CEO, Brian Harris, is a Republican.

Government & Politics

Stung by the President on Air Quality, Enviros Weigh Options / NY Times, September 3

In late August, the State Department gave a crucial go-ahead on a controversial pipeline to bring tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast. Then on Friday, leading into the holiday weekend, the Obama administration announced without warning that it was walking away from stricter ozone pollution standards that it had been promising for three years and instead sticking with Bush-era standards.

Patent Reform Passed by Congress, Supported by President, Boston Globe, Sept 9th

The Senate delivered an overhaul of the US patent system that President Obama has long endorsed as a way to promote innovation and put Americans back to work. Proving that Congress can, on occasion, put aside partisan differences, the Senate voted 89-9 for legislation that supporters say will streamline the patent process, reduce costly legal battles, and give the US Patent and Trademark Office the money it needs to process patent applications in a timely fashion.

SolarCity Plans 160,000 Solar Energy Systems on Military Bases / LATimes, September 8

The company's $1-billion SolarStrong project would add rooftop solar installations at 124 military housing developments in 33 states. It would double the number of sun-powered systems in the U.S.

Bring Residential PACE Program Back to Life / The New Republic, August 30

The newly introduced PACE Assessment Protection Act (H.R. 2599), which already has bipartisan support and endorsement from many organizations, provides at least a ray of hope that there might be a chance that PACE can become an important tool to boost job creation and economic growth in the residential clean energy market.

PACE: Energy Projects Generate Jobs / The Hill, September 6

A bipartisan bill to help both our economy and environment is emerging in Congress — in these days of hyper-gridlock, the effort deserves our full support. The bill restores a popular financing program, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), to improve energy efficiency in homes and businesses across the country.

Obama Decides Against Change in Ozone Standards / USA Today, September 2

President Obama decided Friday morning not to raise ozone standards favored by environmentalists but decried by business groups and Republicans.

Cities Begin Planning for a Very Different Future / Marketplace Radio, September 1

With rising sea levels and changing environments, some cities are beginning to plan for a different future than they expected.  A report not too long ago from the U.S. Conference of Mayors said almost a third of American cities have made provisions in their budgets for adapting to climate change. That is, potholes, police cars and getting ready for global warming. But with cities strapped these days just to fill potholes and pay teachers, climate adaptation gets short shrift at city hall.

Business, Jobs, & Science

Where the Jobs Aren’t / New York Times, September 5

With the economy stagnating and unemployment high, where are the jobs of the future going to come from? A few years ago, it seemed as though the Green Economy could be a big part of the answer ... An important distinction between government efforts to set the table for entrepreneurial activity and government efforts to create jobs directly. Setting the table means building an underlying context for innovation: funding academic research, establishing clear laws, improving immigration policies, building infrastructure and keeping capital gains tax rates low. Lerner notes that one of the most important government initiatives to encourage innovation was the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which gave universities automatic title to research paid by the federal government. These table-setting efforts work. The problem is the results are indirect, the jobs take a long time to emerge and the market may end up favoring old-energy sources instead of shiny new ones. So politicians invariably go for the instant rush. They try to use taxpayer money to create private jobs now. But they end up wasting billions. We should pursue green innovation. We just shouldn’t imagine these efforts will create the jobs we need.

Green Jobs Reality Check, Center for American Progress, August 29

A lot of bogus numbers are flying around about green jobs these days.  It’s time to set the record straight:  Clean energy is a bright spot in the economic recovery, already creating large numbers of high quality U.S. jobs in emerging industries.  Cleantech (primarily clean energy) has seen “torrid growth” from 2003 to 2010, 8.3% per year — almost double the growth rate of the  overall economy during that time.

Large-Scale Solar Sector Surges in U.S. as Panel Costs Drop, Clean Techies, Sept 14

The number of new, industrial-scale solar projects being planned has increased to 24 gigawatts of solar capacity, up from 17 gigawatts just two months ago.

Shocker: Power Demand From US Homes is Falling / Associated Press, September 7

Over the next decade, experts expect residential power use to fall, reversing an upward trend that has been almost uninterrupted since Thomas Edison invented the modern light bulb.

###

Filed under: ,

Comments (0)