Solar States Blog

I know it sounds like a cheesy sixties travel song or the latest tourism campaign but Pennsylvania Sunshine may brighten our state in another way.

As an add-on to Gov. Ed Rendell’s Alternative Energy Investment Act, Pennsylvania Sunshine provides $100 million in grant funding for commercial and residential solar projects. This bill, which was passed after the Commonwealth Financing Authority board voted unanimously last week, knocks down the largest barrier to solar energy in Pennsylvania. High upfront costs for solar arrays, combined with Pennsylvania’s already high labor and building costs have prevented solar development from taking off.

Funding will be available on a first-come-first-served basis, with applications available through the Department of Environmental Protection as early as next week.

This legislation comes as a huge sigh of relief for companies like Solar States, interested in furthering solar development. The fact is that solar energy is not yet cost effective for up-and-coming businesses to afford in the short term. The Pennsylvania Sunshine law allows for investment into energy independence; an investment that is going to become more and more important as rate caps disappear at the end of 2010.

The Pennsylvania solar community came out in force in support of the bill last week, as installers, potential developers and displaced solar company employees gathered in Harrisburg. Nine months ago, when Rendell’s energy policy was passed through the state house, install and development companies sprung up across PA, hoping to take advantage of promised rebates. But by the first of the year, no rebates had been issued and many installers had to lay off employees.

With the economy being in the shape it is in, cities and municipalities have been scrambling to keep development dollars flowing in. Philadelphia, for example, has had bills flowing through City Council since December to scale back generous tax abatement programs. But fears about negative impacts on development prevented support from the Mayor’s office. Pennsylvania Sunshine was propped up alongside federal stimulus funds as better incentives for green development.

Lastly, this law is great news for the city’s engineering students and solar technicians-in-training counting on early investment into solar energy to create a bedrock of the Philadelphia solar industry. Because, hey, someone has to be first.

Check out the full literature of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Law, as well as applications for inclusion here.

There has been a lot of talk about Broc Obama’s $787 Billion stimulus package and how friendly it is to alternative energy sources. From the outset, Obama has stated his belief that getting us out of our current economic slump and creating jobs through alternative energy walk hand in hand. But that’s just something you say, right?

Not so. As our big, green prezy signed the bill into law and the provisions went public, the alternative energy industry shouted a collective ‘horrah!’ as their ilk was more lauded than any other by the new administration.

The signing ceremony was loaded with pomp and circumstance highlighting concentrations on solar, biofuels and other renewable sources of power. After touring the solar array at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Obama was introduced by Blake Jones, the head of Namaste Solar and Electric. The company is responsible for putting solar panels on the roof of the Colorado Governors Mansion.

But once the dust had settled and all the ceremonial junk was out of the way, the bill introduced was still packed with funding for the next generation of energy creation. Here are a few of the big ones:

* A large sum for energy efficiency, including $5 billion for low-income weatherization programs; over $6 billion in grants for state and local governments; and several billion to modernize federal buildings, with a particular emphasis on energy efficiency.

* $11 billion for “smart grid” investments.

* $3.4 billion for carbon capture and sequestration demonstration projects (otherwise known as “clean coal”).

* $2 billion for research into batteries for electric cars.

* $500 million to help workers train for “green jobs.”

* A three-year extension of the “production tax credit” for wind energy (as well as a tax credit extension for biomass, geothermal, landfill gas and some hydropower projects).

* The option, available to many developers, of turning their tax credits into direct cash, with the government underwriting 30 percent of a project’s cost.
(list courtesy of the New York Times)

What does this mean for us here at home? Gov. Ed Rendell advised on the Stimulus, starting with $500 million for green jobs training. The first thing federal funding was able to assist with was a bailout for the Armstrong Window plant in Armstrong, PA. This plant provides green jobs and weatherized windows to conserve energy across Pennsylvania. And Rendell says there is more where that came from.

“We have a skilled workforce, idle factory space and an infrastructure that can be

used quickly to build, install and service products like these windows or energy efficient appliances, not to mention manufacture windmills, solar panels, geothermal systems and biofuels. And, now, with the support of President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as well as our ow

n state programs, we have new resources to invest in these industries and our people to make these projects a reality and rebuild our economy so that we can emerge from this national recession stronger than before.” (Yahoo! News)

It still remains to be seen how this money will be spent in the short term, as one of Obama’s biggest caveats has been accountability for the spending of stimulus monies. Keep it here for more updates on the rollout of stimulus funding as they become available.