Alliance for Renewable Energy

Ontario Rockets to Top Ten of Solar PV in North America

From Wind-Works: "With activation October 5th of a 9.1 megawatt (MW) solar PV project in eastern Ontario, the Canadian province has rocketed to the top ten solar jurisdictions in North America.

Ontario was already one of the leaders in solar energy development in North America with 1.7 MW of solar PV projects operating in the province."

Read more.

(Photo shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Solar Alliance Supports FITs

The Solar Alliance issued a Position Paper on Feed-in Tariffs in July 2009. In it they stated, "The Solar Alliance believes that properly designed FITs are an effective policy instrument to promote the growth of solar energy." Read more.

HAVE A NICE DAY: Tom Friedman identifies feed-in tariff policies as the common denominator of solar power success

In this New York Times Op Ed, Tom Friedman looks around the world to see what's making other countries leaders in solar power. What he finds is that almost all the  countries who are leaders in solar energy have feed-in tariff policies: "The reason that all these other countries are building solar-panel industries today is because most of their governments have put in place the three perquisites for growing a renewable energy industry: 1) any business or homeowner can generate solar energy; 2) if they decide to do so, the power utility has to connect them to the grid; and 3) the utility has to buy the power for a predictable period at a price that is a no-brainer good deal for the family or business putting the solar panels on their rooftop." Read more.

Chair of UN’s Official Climate Science Panel Endorses 350 ppm Target

The number 350--as in parts per million—is the level scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere. Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN's official climate science panel, just personally endorsed the 350 ppm target.

350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis--the solutions that science and justice demand.

If an international grassroots movement holds our leaders accountable to the latest climate science, we can start the global transformation we so desperately need. To learn more visit: 350.org

A powerful renewable energy policy is gaining momentum

From the World Future press release:

"Hosted by the World Future Council, Congressman Jay Inslee from Washington State and Congressman William Delahunt from Massachusetts held a briefing on feed-in tariff renewable energy policy yesterday. In a packed room at the House of Representatives Congressman Inslee stated: “The two hottest things in America today are the iPhone and feed-in tariffs. In order to solve the security problems of the grid we need to foster multiple technologies and feed-in tariff policy (FIT) accomplishes that goal.” 

Energy security expert James Woolsey, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, stated that “the grid is vulnerable to cyber and physical attacks. We [US] don’t do renewable energy well and part of the problem is our focus on utility scale power plant instead of distributed generation. Let’s give credit to the Germans for their approach. We have a chance if we get behind this policy. Vermont has it [Feed-in Tariff policy] right. We need to make a push and get busy.” 

75 people attended including the staff from over 20 House Members. Inslee and Delahunt are planning to re-introduce the federal feed-in tariff bill, with some small changes. They are also planning to add a section on Federal financing for municipal feed-in tariff projects.  

Randy Hayes, World Future Council, and James Bradbury from Congressman Inslee’s office opened the briefing and moderated the panel. One participant commented it was great to see that people were no longer asking what a feed-in tariff is but how to implement it."

Maine Community-Based FIT Becomes Law

Maine Governor John Baldacci signed LD 1075 on June 24, 2009, creating a Community-Based Renewable Energy pilot program. The six-year program implements a simple feed-in tariff for qualifying projects.

The timid program limits total capacity to 50 MW and with further restrictions may only allow 25 MW in total. As a result, Maine's pilot program is even smaller than Vermont's 50 MW program.

Read more.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user brentdanley, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Greece Unveils New REP Legislation

Greece recently announced new REP legislation for rooftop solar PV. The rate, €0.55/kWh, is one of the highest in Europe, and there is no cap to the program. Read more.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Marcelgermain, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

US Joins International Renewable Energy Agency

The United States today joined 130 other countries as members of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in an Assembly meeting held here in the seaside resort of Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula.

Ambassador Reno Harnish, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science, signed for the U.S. government. He said: “The United States is extremely pleased to join IRENA. President Obama is committed to renewable energy to mitigate climate change, ensure energy security, create green jobs and lead a green recovery. Joining IRENA allows us to cooperate with 130 other nations to speed market adoption of renewable energy around the world.”

Read more of the ACORE Press Release quoted above.

NREL Energy Analysts Dig into Feed-In Tariffs

Energy analysts at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have just released several reports exploring how incentives similar to FITs could stimulate the growth of renewable energy in the United States. Read more.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user, shared under a Creative Commons license.)

Payback Time - Germany's Renewable Energy Program