Object lessons learned in Solar industry from Spain

[no1_vern]

After Boom and Bust, Solar Power Has a Place in the Spanish Sun - NYTimes.com

Quote:

But as low-quality, poorly designed solar plants sprang up on Spain’s plateaus, Spanish officials came to realize that they would have to subsidize many of them indefinitely, and that the industry they had created might never produce efficient green energy on its own.

In September the government abruptly changed course, cutting payments and capping solar construction. Puertollano’s brief boom turned bust. Factories and stores shut, thousands of workers lost jobs, foreign companies and banks abandoned contracts that had already been negotiated.

-SNIP

Puertollano’s wrenching fall points to the delicate policy calculations needed to stimulate nascent solar industries and create green jobs, and might serve as a cautionary tale for the United States, where a similar exercise is now under way.

For now, electricity generation from the sun’s rays needs to be subsidized because it requires the purchase of new equipment and investment in evolving technologies. But costs are rapidly dropping. And regulators are still learning how to structure stimulus payments so that they yield a stable green industry that supports itself, rather than just costly energy and an economic flash in the pan like Spain’s.

“The industry as a whole learned a lot from what happened in Spain,” said Cassidy DeLine, who analyzes the European solar market for Emerging Energy Research, a firm based in Cambridge, Mass. She noted that other countries had since set subsidies lower and issued stricter standards for solar plants.

-SNIP-

“The U.S. is really behind Europe on this, and if we wait until solar is cost-competitive on its own, we may miss the boat and an opportunity to shape the market.”

[Toadman]

Until solar technology advances it is but a trickle-charger for power grids, like wind, hydro and wave alternatives. Does it work? Of course it does. But there's a reason why current investments lack. It's not lucrative. Worthy of ROI of regulatory infrastructural investment. Yet. Contrary to popular belief it's not about close-holding Big Oil, nuke or coal. Those with a vested interest and the wherewithal are not dipping their toes into it for the long-term. Just yet.

[voogru]

I'd really like to see more research into batteries. It'd be awesome to replace roofs with solar panels that trickle charge a large reserve of batteries.

When fully charged, the batteries would run the house for weeks with no sun required.

[MegalosSkylaki]

Anybody ask what the carbon footprint and toxic materials in their manufacture that solar panals involve?