Local Solar Company Joins Pres. Obama, India For Solar Talks

From: Solar Energy News

NORCROSS, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Suniva, Inc., a U.S. manufacturer of high-efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cells and modules, today announced that it was a participant in the U.S. – India Innovation Roundtable led by President Obama. The roundtable, held in Mumbai, was part of the President’s first official visit to India. Suniva was the only solar company invited to participate in the roundtable discussion.

Supporting the Obama administration’s key goal of boosting U.S. exports, the roundtable discussion focused on growing trade and investment between the U.S. and India. Suniva’s chief marketing officer Bryan Ashley was one of seven business representatives, four from India and three from the U.S., to participate in the roundtable discussion with the President. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsak and U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer were also in attendance at the panel session.

“It’s an honor to be recognized as one of the premier examples of collaboration between India and U.S. business, as well as to have the opportunity to discuss with the President recommendations for continuing to develop business relationships with India,” said Bryan Ashley, chief marketing officer for Suniva. “Exports are key to the growth of the U.S. economy. Strengthening the economic and innovation bonds with India will result in greater export opportunities for businesses, which in turn will create new jobs in both countries.”

In a speech at the US-India Business Council summit after the panel, President Obama heralded Suniva as an example of U.S. businesses that are deepening trade relations through its work with Indian customers. Suniva’s high-efficiency solar cells and modules have been used in some of the most pioneering projects in India. The company recently announced that its solar cells power a 3 MW solar farm in Karnataka, one of the largest grid-connected solar fields in India. Suniva solar cells are also used in the first 1 MW rooftop solar array in India, built on the roof of the new Thyagaraj Stadium in New Delhi. In addition, multi-megawatts of cellular phone towers in India are now Powered by Suniva™ and leading Indian solar module manufacturers use Suniva’s high efficiency cells to make their panels more efficient and competitive in other world markets, including Europe, Asia, and the U.S.

White House To Go Solar (again)

Source: NYTimes.com

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced plans to install solar panels on the White House roof today, kicking off a three-day federal symposium focused on targeting sustainability efforts throughout the federal government.

"Around the world, the White House is a symbol of freedom and democracy," Chu told an audience of federal employees. "It should also be a symbol of America's commitment to a clean energy future."

The Department of Energy aims to install solar panels and a solar hot water heater by the end of next spring as part of a demonstration project showcasing the availability and reliability of the country's solar technologies. In a press release, DOE officials emphasized the growing industry and the availability of tax credits for those who install panels.

The news comes less than a month after environmentalist Bill McKibben led a rally demanding that President Obama install solar panels and presenting White House officials with a solar panel from former President Carter's White House.

At the time, White House officials seemed to rebuff McKibben's pleas, releasing a vague statement about Obama's commitment to renewable energy. But today McKibben and other environmentalists praised federal officials for taking the symbolic step.

"The White House did the right thing, and for the right reasons: They listened to the Americans who asked for solar on their roof, and they listened to the scientists and engineers who told them this is the path to the future," said McKibben, the co-founder of the nonprofit 350.org. "If it has anything like the effect of the White House garden, it could be a trigger for a wave of solar installations across the country and around the world."

The planned panels will convert sunlight directly to electricity, while the solar hot water heater will have a "solar collector" to heat water for the White House residence, according to the DOE press release. The department will immediately begin the competitive bidding process to select a company for the installations.

Nancy Sutley -- chairwoman of the White House Council of Environmental Quality -- joined Chu in making the announcement at the GreenGov Symposium. The news is "in keeping with our commitment to lead by example," she said.

Indeed, that was the stated purpose of the three-day symposium, which will feature panels and lectures on topics relating to clean water, sustainable buildings, climate and a half-dozen other government priorities. Lecture titles range from "Measuring Your Water Footprint" to "Case Studies in Greening the Supply Chain."

"Regardless of whether your job is every day to worry about sustainability in your agency ... the federal community at large cares about sustainability," Sutley said. "This symposium is about turning a vision into practice and engaging minds from inside and outside the federal community."

'Race to develop clean energy technologies'

The symposium marked the one-year anniversary of Obama's Executive Order 13514, which directed the federal government to lead by example and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Sutley, Chu, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and biomimicry expert Janine Benyus kicked off the event with speeches today at the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University.

Chu's speech served as a primer on global warming and DOE's efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Armed with a PowerPoint presentation, he led the audience through the statistics showing rising sea levels and warming temperatures.

DOE has implemented several programs aimed at slowing that trend, he said -- from encouraging energy-efficient white roofs to decreasing the energy used for the government's data centers.

"We are in a race to develop clean energy technologies around the world," he said, citing China's efforts to pursue clean energy. "So the question is: As these countries move aggressively into this space to develop these new technologies ... will we be a leader in this race or will we be importing technologies from these other counties five to 10 years from now?"

Vilsack also focused on his agency's progress over the past year, highlighting a program that reconnects people with their food supply through community gardens. USDA, he said, aims to help the country adopt a new American culture that values consuming wisely, innovating widely and exporting more.

"I think you need to understand what is happening in this country," Vilsack said, "and that is that we are in the process -- in my opinion -- of redefining the American experience."

Benyus also struck an optimistic cord, expressing hope that sustainability goes "from being a checklist to becoming a culture."

"We as a people in the United States are capable of grand, sweeping, bold, mature ideas," Benyus said, showing the audience a photo of a protected wilderness. "I think that we can do the same sort of thing around sustainability."

INNOVATING TOWARD OUR NEXT GREAT INDUSTRY

From Appliedmaterials.com:

Yesterday, from the White House, Vice President Biden released a new report, “The Recovery Act: Transforming the American Economy through Innovation,” which outlines how the administration’s $100 billion investment in innovation has been, for the most part, money well spent. In his remarks, Biden highlighted four key areas where stimulus money was working: •Modernizing transportation •Jumpstarting the renewable energy sector •Investing in groundbreaking medical research •Building a platform that will enhance the private sector’s

The recurring theme in the speech was that without innovation, the prospect of creating America’s next great industries will remain an elusive fantasy. The Recovery Act has been one of the main catalysts for turning that fantasy into reality. But, as Biden made clear, the government can only do so much; in the end, it is the private sector that will drive this change. He noted: “Government plants the seeds, the private sector makes them grow, and we launch entire industries, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and spark new forms of commerce that were once unimaginable.”

While the vice president lamented this country’s lackluster investment in renewable energy over the last thirty years, causing the U.S. to lose its competitive edge, the administration is quickly making up for lost time. President Obama, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Vice President Biden have set a joint goal to double U.S. renewable energy generation capacity from wind, solar and geothermal by 2012, which the report states is ahead of schedule. Because of stimulus-funded solar energy projects, the U.S. is now on pace to cut the cost of solar power in half by 2015, bringing the price of this energy source ever closer to achieving the ‘holy grail’ of grid parity. Biden even speculated that one day solar power could be “cheaper than electricity from the grid,” but it is going to take scale to get the job done.

Increasing renewable energy generation capacity will invariably spur an increase in renewable energy manufacturing capacity as well. If the U.S. can achieve its goal of doubling its annual output of 6 GW of renewable equipment to 12 GW by the end of next year, this would increase our country’s share of global manufacturing of solar PV modules from 8 percent of all production to 14 percent by 2012. Ensuring that the necessary incentives are in place for keeping clean energy manufacturers in this country, and potentially attracting foreign companies to relocate their operations here, will be key. This is why it is so vital that programs like the Manufacturing Tax Credit (48C) be extended. Already, the House Ways & Means Committee has circulated a discussion draft of the Domestic Manufacturing and Energy Jobs Act of 2010, which includes an expansion of the 48C program. Ways & Means, along with the full House, needs to move forward with this in September, and the Senate ought to follow suit. A national renewable electricity standard (RES), which the Senate will hopefully take a closer look at when it returns from recess next month, would also go a long way toward keeping the U.S. a leader in this emerging industry.

Without an RES at the national level, the fight will be forced to happen at the regional and state levels, which will undoubtedly slow down the transition toward a clean energy economy. The opportunity to achieve a strong federal RES is something we simply can’t lose.

We have the seeds to become a dominant force in this next great industry; let’s make sure we make them grow.