Solar manufacturers, who once couldn’t keep up with demand, are now searching for customers. (Photo: David Maxwell for The New York Times)The recession has cast clouds over once fast-growing solar manufacturers.
OptiSolar, based in California, is laying off close to half of its workers at what it had hoped would become a huge solar-panel plant near Sacramento.
HelioVolt, a thin-film solar manufacturer headquartered in Austin, is also cutting jobs, as reportedly is SunEdison.
Evergreen Solar, a solar manufacturer, announced that it would close down a pilot plant in Massachusetts as a cash-saving measure; it will incur a $25 million charge for writing off equipment. Most employees will be transferred to another Massachusetts factory, which is expanding.
“From the manufacturers’ standpoint, it’s pretty serious,” said Bill Stewart, president of SolarCraft, a California installer, in a conversation with Green Inc. Until last summer, there were still shortages of solar modules (which in turn were due to shortages of the polysilicon material they are made from), so installers like SolarCraft sometimes had to badger manufacturers to make sure they would receive enough panels.
Now, said Mr. Stewart, the situation is reversed, and manufacturers are calling installers to say, “‘Hey, do you need any product this month? Can I sell you a bit more?’”
Mr. Stewart said that European solar markets have also slowed, which has helped loosen up supply.
SolarCraft, he says, still has “a lot of buyers right now,” but the number would be even higher if there were more innovative loan programs. “A lot of people don’t want to mess with their home-equity lines of credit,” he said.
USA Today reports that the price of rooftop solar systems is down by 8 to 10 percent since October, and could fall further.
From 1 to 25 of 80 Comments
So we bail out industries that have run there companies and investors in to the ground.
— RayWhere is the bailout and incentives for solar producers that may help us get away from fossil fuels
Solar manufacturers have gone to market with products that don’t make any economic sense. We need another couple of generations of innovation before any but early adopters and PR-seeking businesses will be buying. Check back in 5-10 years.
— TomSo where are all the cheap solar systems? I would buy one if I could get it for a discount.
— paulwesterbergjust do the math. with oil at $38, gas less than $2/gal and heating oil around $2.5, there just isn’t the economic incentive for solar instalations. couple that to the fact that some state subsidies are coupled to a requirement that only “certified” solar contractors can install the equipment makes one wander why there are any systems in place at all. if the government is truly serious about reducing or ending our reliance on foreign energy sources, they would remove many of the restrictions (yes, believe it or not, there are bad laws and rules on the books) on installing this equipment. in addition to subsidies they would put a floor on the price of oil high enough to ensure that these products can be prifitable. let’s not kid ourselves, the economic future of this country (and just about every other) is based on the abundant supply of cheap energy. if the cost of energy increases to the point where these products do become cost effective then i fear it won’t matter because the economy will be in tatters.
— rangerousWhat we need is an energy policy that looks beyond the next set of elections.
— ThadTom,
— SidSolar systems installed today generally have a payback time of 15 years. As such, i would hardly say they are “…products that don’t make any economic sense”.
I investigated getting a solar unit for my home - they wanted over $12,000 for a single family house to generate some electricity - not even hot water, plus then years of maintenance agreements. If the industry is hurting so bad, where are the discounts? Where are the deals? Why isn’t there one on every house in the neighborhood?
— RDGelmanWe should look at the solar industry like we looked at computer chips 30 years ago. Computer chips used to be much too expensive for all but the largest commercial and government purposes (ex:dept of defense). Then, the government subsidized the cost of producing computer chips, the PC was invented and economy of scale was reached for most commercial uses of this vital product. That process went on to spawn an new economy built on cheap and available computing power. The same should be done with solar energy. Subsidize for a period of 10 years, build up demand, achieve economy of scale resulting in reduced price and a whole new industry built on cheap, clean energy.
— StewartHere we go again…….just like in the 70’s passive solar design being promoted coal to energy project. 30 years later same song.
— PatSolar panels and other products cannot compete and people don’t buy them because the price of electricity generated by oil, coal, etc, is not accounted for correctly. Those industries, as useful as they are, are burning our future into the air, and until the pumping/mining of oil and coal out of the ground is regulated and taxed more heavily, solar will never win.
It’s like saying that stealing is cheaper than buying something. Well of course it is, but it’s stealing.
— eric schmidtStewart, you’re right on with the government subsidizing the solar industry.
Way, way back in the early ’80s, in Arizona they offered a direct tax reduction if you invested in a solar water heating system. The tax incentive alone made its payback within two-three years.
That’s how you give an industry a jump-start.
— Pauline MayIt’s a shame that Green Inc. continues to list Greentech Media among its “news sources” on the right side. They lost their editor a couple of months ago and haven’t been the same since. They should either get her back or just give up, since they seem to have lost their way.
— Jeff PellWe need to realize that there is no single “silver bullet” to the energy crisis. Energy progress and economic expansion will occur when the two forms of energy; coal for electricity and oil for heating and transportation are replaced by dozens of technologies.
When there are multiple options they will compete with each other to drive down price and increase efficiency. Wind and geothermal are the cheapest ways to generate electricity, the private sector is realizing this and is rushing to build installations so they can lower their production costs and drive up their profits.
Right now electricity is really cheap so solar can’t compete, that will eventually change.
By the way, oil isn’t used to generate electricity (less than 1% of total production in the US) so the price of oil doesn’t effect electricity pricing. Cheaper oil (cheap today, tomorrow who knows) makes solar thermal systems less of an advantage but the sun will always be free.
— JordanThe coal/gas/oil industries get a free ride since they don’t pay for their pollution, including CO2. With solar and wind, all the manufacturing and pollution expenses are paid for by the consumer at time of purchase. Start taxing fossil fuel companies for their destruction of the environment, including mining, air and water pollution, and solar and wind will quickly look economical. Oh, and the war in Iraq? That is also partly a freebie to support the oil industry.
— Scott BakerSeveral recent advancements in solar technology should help the industry rally:
1) MIT has developed cheap, safe, artificial photosynthesis (separating water into hydrogen and oxygen), a “holy grail” of the industry. This makes it feasible to store energy for after sunset and on cloudy days. A Welsh research team has created a similar technology. Supposedly we’re 10 years away from unhoooking houses from the power grid.
2) Nanotechnology has allowed the creation of solar panels that capture 96% of the light that strikes them. The previous most efficient panel was in the neighborhood of 30%.
3) A new breed of solar panels can absorb light that strikes the panels even at an oblique angle. Old models use electric motors (powered by the same solar panels) to adjust the panels throughout the day so they point directly at the sun.
Of course, the extractive fuel industries will do everything they can to kill this technology, but we can hope, can’t we?
— Adam LacekyMore energy from the sun strikes the earth, free of charge, every day, than we use.
And we’re spending our children’s savings, not to mention their lungs.
— DFCHere is a terrific Solar Calculator calibrated for each state.
You’ll get a ballpark figure for your return on investment for solar panels based on how much electricity you currently use.
http://www.solartradingpost.com/calculate.php
— SidIf solar manufacturers were subsidised like we have subsidised the oil industry for the last 100 years, and are still subsidising them we could buy inexpensive solar cells.
Yes solar will be more efficient in the future, but with oil and gas sibsidies at record levels they are fighting with one hand tied behing their backs.
Currently the economy is in a downturn people are not willing to spend for capital improvements of their houses, That will change.
— AnneStewart, Amen to the idea of a subsidized solar economy…
Problem is that Coal and Oil are busy scaring people and making deals to keep this stuff out of the consumer’s hands. The idea that only “certified” installers can put solar on your home (as rangerous wrote about above) reeks of the Oil Lobbyist work in the legislature…
IT IS TIME TO MOVE THIS COUNTRY FORWARD!
— NQProblem is that most US households simply can NOT AFFORD solar electric systems.
And no, for most of the US it does NOT have a payback of 15 years. My electric runs around $65 a month (we are good at conserving) at over 15 years that it is $11.700.
I have been interested in going to solar for years (as in over 25 years.) Having tried again and again to figure out cost efficency and even with the help of solar electric system designers, the cost still keeps coming in prohibitively high.
In order to rely upon solar electric you first have to make more changes than just using CF light bulbs. That refrigerator and any separate freezers are history, You have to use a gas (propane or natural gas) refrigerator (around $2500 for 16 cu ft R/F) or a Sunfrost (extremely low power draw and around $3000 for a 16 cu ft.) The you get rid of an electric water heaters - and best is a tankless gas water heater that has a pilot light (no electric needed to start it) or a hydrogenerated ignition. Then any and all electric heat is also history. You have to heat with gas (and have a low draw blower - probably a DC motor) or wood. And also out the door are the huge washers and dryers - too big of energy hogs for such a system. You might, if your system is big enough (and that means bigger than the cost listed below) be able to use a combo washer-dryer that washes and dries all in one machine and runs on 110 instead of the 220 required by conventional washers and dryers.
How all of that means dropping around at least $9000 for the average home - and you still have to put the system in.
One does not just ‘buy the panels and plug them into the house.’ You need
(1) Panels (and they only work for a few hours a day in most of the US)
(2) Mounts for the panels - either freestanding or roof
(3) Charge controller (goes between the panels and #4)
(4) Batteries (ouch - very pricey and need replaced anywhere from every 5 -15 years depending upon the type. Have to be able to store 3-5 days of electricity using only 30% of battery capacity during up to 3-5 days.)
(5) System monitor (reads battery charging, battery usage and has other functions)
(6) Inverter (the power produced and then stored in the batteries is NOT directly useable except with DC appliances and 99+% of all appliances are AC)
(7) wiring, cables and connections
(8) If using solar and using grid power, a special monitor that switches between the 2 sources
The price tag for a system that will generate even 5000 KW a day? Try around $40,000.
Most households use 3 to 5 times that much electricity a day and using the above methods to redeuce consumption might get it down to 7000-8000 if they give up the electric toothbrush, the electric alarm clock, and similar gadgets which come in non-electric versions.
And solar hot water heaters that do not freeze cost an enormous amount - up to $7000 -10,000.
Households can NOT pay these prices.
The largest technological leaps in the shortest time periods came (1) right after WWII and (2) during and after the space race of the 1960s. In both cases it was the government paid research that created the technologies that were then converted to civilian use. For exampe, that HEPA air cleaner running in the corner of your house came from the NASA reseach for space flight. Ditto computers,
Left to its own devices, the private markets have been very slow to generate new technologies. It took the private businsess 100 years to convert from makeing everything by hand to using machines (19th century.) Even then the machinery was built to last for decades as technological progress was assumed to be so slow that the machines would be in service for decades before they became out-dated by new equipment.
To make the same kind of huge jumps in solar and alternative energy as was done in post-WWII technology, the government is going to have to carry the burden of the costs. Lots of R&D simply does not pan out and private business hates to carry such losses. (Look at drug research - primarily funded by the NIH through grant money and not the pharmecutical companies.)
— AnnTHe current material polysilicon and the future materials
based upon III/V or II/VI compound semiconductors need
to be mined, processed, and packaged into useful optical
to electrical convertors. THIS IS NOT ENVIRONMENALLY
SOUND.
Instead, sequester CO2. Sell it. Add water or hydrogen to it, create Methane, burn methane to generate electricity,
collect CO2, add watet and have a closed cycle generator for your home.
How Berkeley liberals does it take to plug a hydrid car into
— Va methane generator?
Innovative municipal financing developed in Berkeley and Palm Desert, CA late last year ignited global interest in micro-financing for solar and energy efficiency because the benefits to residents, business and governments are striking:
*no up-front costs and no credit check
*payments fixed for 20 years with costs offset by lower utility bills
*payments transfer to new owner when a property is sold
*governments don’t spend a dime
The founders of Renewable Funding invented the popular Berkeley micro-financing program– the “first-in-the-nation” solar funding program.
Fresh from success in Berkeley, Renewable Funding launched an ambitious program to take the model to the rest of the US. The firm anticipates a national program could finance $280 billion in solar energy efficiency improvements and wipe clean a gigaton of CO2 pollution annually– with no additional cost to local, state, or federal governments.
check us out:
http://www.renewfund.com
— Sean MonsarratI would like to see a guaranteed loan program, like student loan programs, for home solar purchase, with retention of tax credits. Where electric companies are cooperatives (like Rural Electric Cooperatives), administer the loans through the regular REC billing. Home-based solar and wind power requires no grid update–therefore it’s much more cost effective than many people seem to think. Count the cost of building new coal plants or upgrading grids to take on the Texas wind farms. Suddenly home-based power makes much more sense!
— KimTo Ann (#20):
Perhaps part of the reason you can’t make it work is because the numbers you’ve stated make no sense.
Firstly, 5000 KILOWATTS per day makes no sense. You’ve written a power number (which is instantaneous) rather than energy (which is amount of power used over some interval of time).
Secondly, 5000 KILOWATTS is absurdly huge for one house. I’m going to guess you made a mistake and meant you require 5 KW of power. If this is the case, that is still large unless you have one huge house or many, many inefficient appliances. Most average homes require no more than 2 KW instantaneous power at any one time. Perhaps you should look more carefully into efficiency before complaining you can’t make solar work.
Thirdly, the cost of a COMPLETE (all the items you mentioned minus batteries, see below) solar system capable of 3+kW of AC generation, at least in California, is a little over $15K with state rebates and federal tax credits. Payback period: 10-15 years. How do I know? My parents just signed a contract to have such a system installed - no chicanery here.
Fourth, who says you need batteries? Are you trying to disconnect yourself from the grid altogether? If you’re in a state like California, there’s a thing called net-metering - you only pay for the net amount you get from the grid over the course of one year. Read up on it.
I’d suggest doing better research or talking to someone who actually knows how it all comes together…
— Nigel DHere in Spain there are solar farms sprouting up all over. The government has been making consistent investment and incentives for renewable energy.
— Don Madrid