SKLAR: Germany has a very mature feed-in tariff program, not just for solar but for wind and other renewables. They’ve been able to build out market scale. The feed-in tariff concept is problematic be- cause you have to pay extremely high electricity rates for many years. What makes the U.S. different than almost the rest of the world is our electric rates are not, and cannot be, set by the national government. Rates are set by state utility commissions, which have different legislative rules and regulatory guide- lines, so there’s no way the U.S. can snap its fingers and switch to feed-in tariffs. However, the majority of the states have very de-
tailed and robust setups to drive clean-energy tech- nologies. ›› Twenty-nine states have mandatory and four have voluntary renewable-energy portfolio standards, which are requirements for a utility to buy new electric generation from renewable energy for its entire portfolio.
The Stella Group Ltd.’s office in North Arlington,
Va., features 1 kilowatt of solar on the roof, an advanced web-
enabled battery bank, a high-efficiency duct-
less heat pump, double- pane super-insulated windows (R-7 to R-9.1), R-50 insulation, a 0.5 kW wind turbine, 2
kW proton-exchange- membrane fuel cell for backup and peak-power augmentation, daylighting, LED lighting and a solar DC-driven ceiling fan. The awning has see-through nanotechnology photo- voltaics charging batteries and powering LED lights at night.
part of the technology mix. Uni-Solar’s assets will be bought by some other big company. The solar industry is booming. It’s up in double
digits. It has been up every year, including through the economic meltdown, and the technology is get- ting cheaper. Just like with computer chips, when you get economies of scale you get lower costs. Many of the Chinese manufacturers are below $1 a watt, as are some of the U.S. manufacturers. Remember, pan- els are only 40 percent of the system. It’s like saying a car engine is going down in cost. The car is cheaper, but there’s a lot of other stuff in the car, too.
r:
Net-metering doesn’t provide very good payback. Are we going to see
more feed-in-tariff-type programs from the utilities?
SKLAR: No, we don’t need a lot of feed-in tariffs. Net-metering only provides credit for the amount of power you don’t use. You’re using your power first from the solar and then anything you don’t use goes to the grid. Most systems, frankly, aren’t big enough to make a lot of money. On my home and business, I use batteries because batteries are much more valuable than net-metering. Users must determine whether the extra power is more valuable to send to the grid for an electric credit or use when the sun goes down and always have backup electricity and surge-free electricity.
The U.S. lags behind other countries, like Germany, in solar implementa- tion. What is Germany doing differently?
r: 58 RETROFIT // March-April 2013
›› Forty-two states have net-metering and intercon- nection rules, which in many cases say, up to a cer- tain level, residential and commercial have the right to interconnect (connect to the grid) and get the re- tail rate for their power, not the wholesale rate.
›› Seventeen states have system benefit trust funds where they embed a 25 cent per month charge in your utility bill to fundamentally help pay for the installation of high-value energy efficiency and renewables for commercial, institutional and non-profits.
›› Lastly, 36 states have tax credits or waivers. The other 15 states that don’t have at least one of
these guidelines represent a very small part of U.S. ratepayers. Ideally, these other states should get on board with this new era in electric technologies, and they will when they see it work in other states.
r: r:
What will be the U.S. impact of the tariffs placed on Chinese PV compo-
nents?
SKLAR: First of all, most PV that’s going into U.S. ap- plications is not Chinese. All the government is doing is bringing up tariff rates closer to what the U.S. real costs of manufacturing are, so it’s really not having a major market impact. Remember, PVs are only 40 percent of the system; the tariffs mean you’re paying 4 percent more on maybe 40 percent of the system.
What are some of the financing trends for renewable-energy installation?
SKLAR: That is really exciting. It’s not how much re- newable energy costs; it’s how we make it affordable.
PHOTOS: SCOTT SKLAR
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