More Nations Warming To Solar Power

Friday, October 12, 2012

— Is solar power ready?

Kevin Canfield (Sept. 2) says no - but solar photovoltaic electricity is already an important part of the energy mix in countries such as Germany, where it now supplies 5.3 percent of electric consumption.

Photovotaics’ global capacity totals more than 69 gigawatts.

The price of photovoltaics is dropping rapidly. It fell 60 percent just between 2008 and 2011. Solar photovoltaics is now competitive with fossil fuel and nuclear electricity in several sunny countries and in Hawaii, California, and New York, where conventional electricity is expensive. As more people buy photovoltaics, prices keep falling due to economies of scale.

But are solar panels cost-effective for you? That depends on local prices and conditions. Keep in mind a photovoltaics module can last 50 years or more, still delivering most of its original output, with little maintenance except replacing an inverter every 10 to 15 years. Forbes writer Barry Cinnamon points out Germans install photovoltaics systems for half the price Americans pay, and we could cut prices in half by eliminating red tape. U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu started the SunShot Initiative to bring these prices down.

Another version of photovoltaics is the largescale power plant, with solar parks in California and Germany. These can replace “peakers” - smaller generating plants brought online during summer afternoons to prevent rolling blackouts when airconditioning causes peakelectrical use. California first replaced a peaker with photovoltaics in 2009.

Solar thermoelectricity is yet another way to make electricity from sunshine. Concentrated Solar Power, also known as CSP, uses a mirror or lens to concentrate the sunlight, creating heat that runs a steam turbine.

Spain currently leads the world in CSP, but California and Arizona have several large projects under way.

Desertec, an international plan with big investors behind it, will bring electricity to the European Union from CSP systems in North African deserts.

Little electricity is produced from oil, so it doesn’t compete with photovoltaics and CSP. Still, I dispute Mr. Canfi eld’s claim the United States has more oil resources than the Middle East.

He may refer to online misinformation about huge undiscovered oil reserves in the Dakotas. The latest (2008) study by the U.S.

Geological Survey estimated 3 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil, which - if it could all be extracted - would replace U.S. imports for one year, not hundreds. By USGS estimates, the Middle East has five times more identified oil reserves than all of North America.

Mr. Canfi eld opposes subsidies to renewable energy. He may not realizeoil, gas, coal and nuclear get huge, permanent subsidies from the government, even though they are all mature industries. Even nuclear industry insiders admit it can’t survive without government subsidies. These have been estimated at $7.1 billion a year, including research, accident liability caps, enrichment, reprocessing fuel rods, loan guarantees, decommissioning and nuclear waste. A 2011 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists states estimates should also factor in the costs of preventing nuclear proliferation and terrorism.

Direct and indirect subsidies to oil, gas, and coal cost taxpayers up to $52 billion a year if you include military protection for oil. Coal gets tax breaks, cheap leases on public lands, and subsidized railroads. Since 1918 the average annual support for the oil and gas industry has been $4.86 billion.

Subsidies and tax breaks may make sense in the first years of an energy transition, but not after half a century. Yet Congress never seems able to vote against these unjustifi ed benefits. So when Mr.

Canfield suggests removing subsidies for all energy sources, the most likely victims would be solar and wind, young industries that receive a small fraction ofwhat fossil fuels and nuclear have been receiving for decades. We also don’t need a trade war with China that will set back green energy for a decade.

The water we need to grow food is getting scarcer. Fossil fuel and nuclear generation require massive amounts of water - renewables don’t.

Renewables don’t cause health problems from smog or mercury, don’t require imports from unfriendly countries, don’t need military protection, don’t have serious problems of waste disposal, nor are they linked with terrorism. They don’t contribute to climate change. They don’t tear up mountains or poison the ocean.

Renewables do have the potential to create several new industries and jobs. And prices will keep going down even as fossil fuel prices keep rising. If any energy subsidies are justified, these would be the ones.

THE AUTHOR WRITES ON BEHALF OF AN INFORMAL GROUP OF LOCAL ADVOCATES -DENNIS LARSON, DAVID DRUDING, BARBARA FITZPATRICK AND KOONCE - CALLED PEOPLE’S ACTION FOR SAFE ENERGY WITH A GOAL TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE RISKS OF NUCLEAR POWER AND TO PROMOTE RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENERGY CONSERVATION.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 10/12/2012