The heart and soul of the world's solar industry is gathered this week in Long Beach for the annual SEPA/SEIA solar conference. Five years ago, this conference drew 200 people to a dingy hotel ballroom in Reno. This year, it's sold out the Long Beach Convention Center, and you can't get a hotel room for love or money within a 20-mile radius. It's like the Super Bowl is in town.
Solar has come a long way -- and there's a lot of things to thank for what's brought the industry to this point. Certainly, the world owes the German feed-in tariff a big danke for all it has done to scale up manufacturing. And in the U.S., the California Solar Initiative has been the big driver, with a bevy of new state programs vying for the crown. While everyone is encouraged by the progress First Solar has made delivering on thin-film's long-deferred promise, I'd argue that to date, financial innovation -- more specifically solar PPAs -- has been a bigger driver in expanding markets than technological innovation.
So, the question of the day is: what's the new development that will emerge as the biggest theme of this year's conference? At the risk of blogmiscuity, I'm guest-blogging on just that question over at RenewableEnergyAccess. Check it out.
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Aklemm Posted 4:46 am
28 Sep 2007
PPA's, if done well, can reflect the best parts of the debt securitization markets.
Each party gets what they want with a minimum of baggage.
I-Banks get debt securitization work.
The whole solar food chain gets work.
The utilities get decreased distribution congestion.
And the host gets solar installed on-site without any of their own scarce capital.
It works for now, let's hope it doesn't get broken.
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sunflower Posted 4:59 am
28 Sep 2007
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Aklemm Posted 9:14 am
28 Sep 2007
The feedback on PPAs has been nearly universally positive and most campuses have begun working on a lot more solar PPAs.
For tax exempt and/or public sector entities the primary way to take advantage of the tax benefits is to sign a PPA.
In addition to an additional 2.5 MW of owned photovoltaic systems.
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