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Industry Pros at Solar Event Offer Bright Outlook

Solar Power 2008 kicked off Oct. 13 in San Diego with a number of panels on industry trends and 425 companies showing off new products.

The conference was touted as the largest ever for the solar industry, despite the grim economy.

Industry advocates said they remain giddy over the eight-year solar investment tax credit that Congress tucked into that $850 billion bailout bill passed on Oct. 3.

They say the legislation marks a turning point for the domestic market.

“I think enough people working inside the American economic and political system have experienced the volatility of oil markets and realize we have to develop renewable sources of energy,” said keynote speaker Gen. Wesley Clark, a retired NATO commander who is now an investment banker who advises energy companies. “They’ve crossed the threshold.”

The incentives will help solar concerns weather the immediate period of falling consumer confidence and global financial meltdown, which has delayed IPOs by venture-backed solar startups.

All are problems felt across the entire economy, not just alternative solar companies, says Rhone Resch, president of Solar Energy Industries Association, one organizer of the gathering.

“Everyone will have a difficult time to secure loans in every industry right now,” he said. “But we have eight years.”

While retail investors may put off new investments, there are still funds and high-net worth individuals willing to invest in solar energy.

And utilities are planning long-term projects that can help bridge the rough patch in the global economy, says Julia Hamm, executive director of the Solar Power Association.

San Diego Gas & Electric, for example, is developing 70 to 80 megawatts of solar electricity , enough to power 50,000 homes , with the installation of solar panels around the county, two-thirds of which will be utility owned.


Path To Independence

“When you have a utility that’s very supportive like SDG & E; that makes a huge difference,” Hamm said.

Advocates say developing solar energy will provide a path to U.S. energy independence away from antagonistic oil producers and volatile oil markets.

“We can avoid the lurching back and forth with foreign relationships with countries that are not in our interest,” Clark said.

He says the nation should not abandon petrochemical development or shut down the oil wells.

“The truth is, a lot more can be developed domestically,” he said. “We need to work on our own energy production.”

There’s also a role for nuclear technology, he said.

“I studied nuclear engineering at West Point,” he said. “I studied something called pebble bed nuclear technology. We in the renewable sector shouldn’t take on ourselves the immediate burden of taking on all the energy.”

Clark said solar development needs to be part of a larger solution , under the “big tent” of alternative sources, such as wind, geo thermal and coal-sequestering CO-2.

“We can’t keep spending money on other people’s oil,” he said.

Advocates at the event stressed the need for added government intervention, such as incentives for wind and alternative energy and regulating carbon emissions by taxing emissions.

In short, it requires a comprehensive federal energy policy that designates a role for alternative energy.

“Investors want to see long-term policies to standardize the technology instead of one-offs , seen to help a particular industry,” said Nasdaq Executive Vice President John Jacobs, a keynote speaker.

In related announcements, SANYO North America on Oct. 14 announced plans to more than double production capacity of solar modules at its Mexico Monterrey Factory to meet rapidly rising demand for solar power in the U.S. market.

Operations are expected to start from December.

The Vaillant Group, a $3.4 billion heating and air-conditioning business, on Oct. 13 said it was expanding into the U.S. market and establishing its headquarters in San Diego. The company specializes in solar water heating, pool heating and space heating systems.

Vaillant Group said it increased product sales for renewable energies by 20 percent to about $160 million in 2007.

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