Online poll: State should promote solar energy

Union Daily Times

by Charles Warner
Editor

February 23, 2012

The State of South Carolina should use business tax credits to promote the growth of solar energy in the state according to the majority of the readers who participated in an online poll conducted by The Union Daily Times.

The Finance Committee of the SC Senate is currently considering House Bill 3346 which would provide tax credits of 35 percent for the installation of solar equipment on commercial buildings. The bill is supported by the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce (SCSBCC) as a means of stimulating economic development and job growth.

In a telephone interview with The Union Daily Times earlier this month, SCSBCC President Frank Knapp pointed out that passage of the bill would provide South Carolina with “a great opportunity to jump start a renewable energy industry” similar to what North Carolina has done. Knapp said North Carolina used tax credits to make solar equipment more affordable for businesses in the state. He said passage of House Bill 3346 would make South Carolina more attractive to the solar energy industry, promoting the growth of the state’s renewable energy sector including small businesses and even solar farms.

While South Carolina currently offers some residential solar tax credits it does not provide them for commercial facilities. Despite this, Knapp said some companies are already installing solar panels on their facilities to heat water and/or generate electricity. Among them is Boeing, which Knapp said has already installed solar panels on its new plant in North Charleston and the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia which has also installed solar panels on its building.

For many businesses, however, especially small ones, installation of solar equipment is not currently cost-effective without the kind of tax incentives that would be provided with the passage of House Bill 3346. Knapp said that with the tax credits, South Carolina would reap the economic benefits of increased revenue through economic development and job creation resulting from the growth of the solar energy industry.

In addition to the benefits of economic development and job creation, the SCSBCC website states that the growth of the solar energy industry would reduce the need for building expensive new energy producing plants. It would also help reduce the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change which threatens South Carolina’s tourism and recreation industries.

Taken together, Knapp said this makes solar equipment credits for business a good investment for the state.

Poll

An overwhelming majority of those who participated in an online poll conducted last week by The Union Daily Times agreed.

The poll asked readers “Should the State of South Carolina use business tax credits to promote the growth of solar energy?”

A total of 50 votes were cast with 68 percent or 34 voting yes and 32 percent or 16 voting no.

Knapp welcomed the poll results as a sign of growing public support for the use of tax incentives to promote the growth of the solar power industry in South Carolina.

“This is very good news, we’re very happy that the readers of The Union Daily Times agree with the position that we need to offer financial incentives for commercial solar equipment to both create small business jobs and reduce our energy demands,” Knapp said Wednesday afternoon. “Alternative and renewable energy really is the future for South Carolina and the country and passage of this bill will put us on the road to that end.”

Focus on the Solyndra default distracts from the benefits of solar

The Hill's Congress Blog
10/19/11

By Thomas Alston, solar outreach and policy coordinator for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona 

There is a segment of the U.S. economy that employs more than 100,000 people – and during the past year, employment in that segment grew by more than 6.8 percent.

Compare that to the 0.7 percent growth in the economy as a whole and this is clearly a bright spot in the still-struggling American economy.

That bright spot is the U.S. solar industry. And despite some well-publicized glitches, solar is one of the fastest-growing industries in the nation – and poised to continue growing and supplying more clean power to millions of Americans.

The recent grilling of Solyndra executives before the House Energy and Commerce Committee was a headline-making affair – but it did little to address the real issue: the need to curb America’s dangerous addiction to foreign oil while investing in domestic energy.

What’s been lost in the fixation on Solyndra is the very real progress that the growing solar industry has made in addressing these problems. And it’s happening here in sunny Arizona.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) is a member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology and one of the most passionate supporters of solar energy in Congress. She played a key role in obtaining a $1.45 billion federal loan guarantee that enabled construction of Arizona’s largest solar power-generation plants near Gila Bend.

The congresswoman also had solar panels installed on her home in Tucson. She long has recognized the job creation potential associated with solar development. This potential is now coming to fruition.

Just a few weeks ago, Tempe-based First Solar celebrated the development of a new solar manufacturing plant in Mesa. This facility is the size of six Super Walmarts and will create more than 600 jobs.

Why did First Solar choose Arizona? In part, it’s because of the local demand for tens of thousands of solar panels from this factory that will be used by the Agua Fria solar generation facility near Yuma.

This project will be one of the largest of its kind in the world. It is employing hundreds of construction workers – a workforce that has been hit disproportionately hard by the recession. And it is made possible by the same Department of Energy loan guarantee as those made to Solyndra.

Unlike Solyndra, the Agua Fria success story is the norm for these loan guarantee projects – and it isn’t alone. The Abengoa project near Gila Bend and Sempra Energy’s Mesquite project west of Phoenix also are supported by loan guarantees and will create a total of 2,400 jobs. The fact is that the loan guarantee program is creating real high-wage employment opportunities.

It also is important to remember that the Solyndra guarantee represented only a small percentage of the total loan guarantee portfolio. Focusing on one failure at the expense of the entire portfolio ignores the fact that the purpose of the loan guarantee program is for the federal government to buy down the risk inherent in innovative new industries to spur private investment.

Finally, because the federal government owns the assets of companies that default, the Office of Management and Budget expects taxpayers to recoup at least half – and perhaps much more – of the value of the Solyndra loan.

The backlash against the solar industry has not been confined to the federal level. Here in Arizona, there has been a fair amount of criticism aimed at state solar incentive programs.

A typical argument contends that supporting clean energy means “picking winners and losers.” This tired phrase often is code for, “Let’s not do anything.” Inaction is picking a winner, but that winner isn’t America and it’s not Arizona.

Making the most of a competitive advantage is not the same as randomly “picking winners.” Arizona has the land, electrical transmission infrastructure, educated workforce, world-class research institutions and, of course, sunlight needed to make this state not just a solar leader, but an energy leader.

Identifying and capitalizing on comparative advantages is something most governments do. Certainly, the Chinese government has figured it out. It has invested more than $25 billion in solar over the last year alone – and it is paying off.

Those who use a free market argument to call for an end to government support for solar and other clean energy sources should focus the same attention on the billions of tax dollars a year that subsidize old energy sources, such as coal and nuclear.

We have the sun and we have the technology. Now let’s have a fact-based discussion on what it will take to harness the near-limitless solar resource and pull our economy forward.

Thomas Alston is solar outreach and policy coordinator for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-a-environment/188555-focus-on-the-solyndra-default-distracts-from-the-benefits-of-solar