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We met the Governor at the recent Tennessee Solar Symposium held in Nashville this month.   Jim, with his Stetson, and me, his sidekick, are listening to the Governor tell us how important solar jobs are to the State and its economy.  The Governor is leading Tennessee into the new era with his efforts to bring solar manufacturing to Tennessee. We mention that there are several barriers to the widespread interest in the state from domestic and foreign companies looking for sites to install panel manufacturing.   First, there needs to be a market for the product.  It would be advantageous to have a regional market for the solar panels produced in the state and that depends on one body, TVA.  The feed-in tariff is not enough of a draw.  What TVA must do is to have access to a revolving fund to loan their distributor customers the up-front cost of the solar and use the funds from the feed-in tariff to pay back the loan.  The money is then recycled so that more of our citizens can take advantage of the no-up-front cost to their getting solar for their homes.  Where is that money to come from?  We are working on that.

Steve and Jim working for TSEA to bring solar to you

Look at the scenery pass by you as you drive or ride through Tennessee.  Look at aerials or Google views of Tennessee and imagine the sites that are suitable for solar farms.  Rooftops, vacant lands, brownfields, parking lots, highway sidings and centerlanes; they are all around us.  With the price of solar PV dropping and the cost of electricity rising over time, these sites will be valuable income generators as our TVA generation partner pays an excellent feed-in tariff, somewhere between 19 cents to 21 cents per kilowatt-hour of solar power generated.  The price for solar PV today mounted in open fields can vary from $3.20 to $6.00 per watt installed depending on the technology chosen and the size of the array.  As the payback reaches 5 years or less, which in certain cases it has, then after the payback is completed, the expenses of the upkeep of solar arrays is minimal and the income is basically a continuous stream for the length of the contract between the purchaser and TVA through its distributor.  The present length of contract for the green switch partner program is ten years.  The banks are starting to realize the income stream is there and are investing in solar farms around the country.  Lets not continue the image that Tennessee is sleeping.

The State of Tennessee received notification that they were awarded the solar stimulus money mid-September. Why haven’t the state authorities released the information from the accepted stimulus grant? The amount of the funding is about 64 million dollars and we have been told that about half the money will go to establishing the solar farm in West Tennessee, but what about the rest of the funding? What solar programs will it support. There may be some revisions or changes that the University of Tennessee or Oak Ridge National Labs want to make with the grant monies? The money is two year money and time is moving on so when can we expect to get the details? Let us hear from you about what you think.
Steve Levy

We are looking for ideas on how you feel about solar electric financing for homes and businesses.  Obviously, the issue is the upfront cost of solar and how it can be financed.  The payback concept is based on TVA’s green-switch program where they pay you for each kilowatt-hour of solar electricity you generate.  The payment is based on what you presently pay for electricity, say 9 cents, plus 12 cents for each kilowatt-hour of solar you generate.  The 12 cents extra is called the ”feed-in tariff.”  Today, one can expect to reach break-even with the present green power switch program’s 12 cent per kilowatt-hour feed-in tariff in about 7 years.  Correct me if I am wrong about that assumed payback period.  Should the state of Tennessee create a revolving fund with zero interest, or should TVA do the revolving fund?  The idea of the revolving fund is that the money collected from the feed-in tariff would go to paying for the loan.  When the loan is paid back, the homeowner now starts collecting the feed-in tariff money which goes towards paying down their electric bill.  The contract you sign with TVA through your local distributor last ten years.  If the terms of the green-switch program improve to the customer’s benefit, those already on the program are automatically enrolled in the better program.  Not all the distributors of TVA power belong to this program so you need to check with your local electric utility.   The fund now loans others and with the expected decrease in cost of solar systems, the money in the fund goes further to finance more systems than before.  What are your thoughts?

Steve

Came across a great website for those interested in jobs in the solar industry.  Go to http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/partner/rew/online/jobs/2009-11-11/ where you can post your resume.  If you are looking for skilled future employees, this site is the way to go.  You will be reaching the right people at a reasonable price, in my judgement.

We will be electing a board of directors very soon.  There will be seven board members with representation from Memphis, Jackson, Tri-cities, Chattanooga, Nashville and Knoxville plus one more anywhere in the state.  If any of our members are interested in accepting the responsibility of being a board member, please send me a message.  Especially if you live in the vicinity of the regions mentioned.  The duties of the board members are contained in our bylaws that can be downloaded from our website.  We need to do this quickly as the members must be identified in our 501c3 application. 

Steve Levy

There were 195 solar interested parties attending the Governor’s Tennessee Solar Symposium yesterday from all over Tennessee.  The networking was intense as were the Governor and Matt Kisber’s talks.  Dr. Stacey Patterson had some information on the Solar Institute and its grant program which I will cover in a follow on article this week.  Kelly Tiller gave a timeline on the construction of the 5 megawatt solar farm along I-40 with a welcome center to be built by the Department of Transportation.  According to Dr. Tiller, the solar farm is more of an experimental station that will bring income for future expansion.  The details were lacking as it is too early in the process of developing the solar farm concept and the land for the solar farm has yet to be purchased.  The state has an option on the site.  Jim and I had an opportunity to speak with the Governor and to inform him of our Tennessee Solar Energy Association as a recent induction as a chapter of the American Solar Energy Society and to thank him for his forward action regarding solar manufacturing in Tennessee.

Steve Levy