Solopower and accelerating solutions: American as apple pie

By Nick Abraham
Climate Solutions

Supporting Innovation, private/public partnerships, and seeing high potential ventures through are as all American as apple pie, and today's examples are no different.

What’s getting served up?  To start: success when others are claiming failure 
Global investment in renewables reached an all time high last year of $257 billion (17 percent increase) and the big winner was solar up 52 percent from 2010.  U.S. numbers are even better. Renewable investment is up 57 percent, in large part due to concentrated investment in solar projects.

At the same time that investment and technological growth are skyrocketing, costs are plummeting. The average global cost in 2000 was $4.99/watt and in 2011 it was down to $1.27.  In many areas, it is even cheaper than natural gas and coal, without any discussion of the externalities these energies come with. The solar industry also employed over 100,000 people in 2011, at over 6,000 companies in every state in the union, and in the middle of a recession is expected to grow to 124,000 by the end of this year.

What else is on the plate? Innovation.
Yesterday, Solopower opened up a new 400MW production facility in Portland, OR. Critics have cited that Solo Power’s product is similar to what now infamously bankrupt solar company Solyndra produced. But as CEO Tim Harris bluntly puts it, most critics “just don’t know very much about the business.”  Solo has stated that they already have more orders than they can fill, and that despite Chinese panels under cutting US producers in the past, Solo offers a unique lightweight product that can be placed on buildings where heavier silicon panels cannot – think older schools, barns, and warehouses (i.e. lots of the built environment out there across America). How ‘bout them apples?       
   

They got a loan guarantee from the Dept. of Energy’s loan program—and they won’t see a dime of that money until they meet certain benchmarks.  Imagine if the banking industry had been so wise with subprime mortgages?  Here’s a little-reported thing about Solopower. The program, started under the Bush administration, has an overall 96 percent success rate.
          

Many of our thriving industries today were started by those willing to take risks and through continued private and public partnership. Think about the attempts to get to the moon, to launch the internet, to launch the auto industry.  In 1903, the United States had over 500 car companies, most of which quickly fell by the wayside even as the automobile sector grew into an industrial juggernaut.” (from Bloomberg report on Renewable Energy Investment)

No one company holds the fate of this rapidly growing industry.  The loan program and solar industry are filled with success stories, and yes a few failures, but what industry isn’t? Renewable energy provides a unique opportunity to step away from the heavy burden of fossil fuel dependency and invest in a growth industry that can help bring us out of the financial crisis better than we entered it.  

The rhetoric surrounding renewables clouds the fact that investment has been overwhelmingly successful and that we should be celebrating its successes, while continuing to innovate and improve on what we’ve learned.  The sun isn’t going anywhere. It’s here to stay and will ripen more apples for that great American pie.