Solar Power International kicks off in Los Angeles

The solar industry is going through a growth spurt, but don’t call it a giant quite yet.

That seems to be the takeaway at Solar Power International, the conference taking over the Los Angeles Convention Center this week.

The exhibition floors are jammed with machinery that dwarfs the salespeople nearby. Models of shingled roofs draped in flexible photovoltaic panels share space with backpacks featuring attached solar modules. Solar-powered air conditioners? They’re here too.

About 27,000 people are expected to pass through between Tuesday and Thursday, checking out roughly 1,100 booths. That’s a far cry from the first convention several years ago, when just 100 exhibitors got a mere 1,000 visitors.

Now, the solar industry is aiming for a point where it’ll install 10 gigawatts a year -– a goal it’s hoping to reach within five years. The Solar Energy Industries Assn., which is co-sponsoring the show with the Solar Electric Power Assn., estimated this week that the U.S. could install more than 1 gigawatt this year.

But while solar is the fastest-growing energy source, according to SEIA President Rhone Resch, it remains the smallest, behind coal, nuclear, natural gas and wind sources.

“Any of the oil companies could come in and buy the biggest solar company here just like that,” he said while touring exhibits Tuesday. “But we see an entrepreneurial spirit here that will blossom and mushroom out eventually. We have the wow factor and the potential to be ubiquitous.”

Biz Stone, a co-founder of Twitter, was also a speaker. Dealing with a rapidly growing company –- much like many of the solar start-ups in attendance –- is like the oft-referenced roller coaster, he said.

“Sometimes it’s fun,” he said. “Sometimes you want to throw up.”

-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: Karthik Polsani, a solar power merchant in Virgina, takes a close look at solar panels by Sharp at the Solar Power International 2010 Conference and Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Credit: Al Seib/Los Angeles Times

Comments

[solar power]

very informative Blog on alternative energy

[save the deserts!]

Thanks for writing about REAL solutions to our economic and environmental meltdowns! Rooftop solar is not getting installed NEARLY as fast as it could, because powerful Big Energy interests keep blocking every attempt made by ratepayers, taxpayers and our representatives to FAIRLY COMPENSATE us for producing all the clean power CA needs (feed in tariffs).

Big Energy knows that there are HUGE taxpayer dollars and HUGE sections of wilderness that they can devour for HUGE profits, so there is no way they are going to let us decentralize and democratize the grid unless we fight much harder.

Bright Source alone is permanently destroying 4,000 acres of prime desert tortoise habitat, using just shy of $2 BILLION taxpayer dollars to do it, then issuing an IPO quickly, before the disaster becomes apparent. How many of us get $2 billion taxpayer dollars and 4,000 taxpayer acres to leverage into a massive IPO where we keep all the profits? As Chevron says: People do. Namely THEM, since they and BP and a few other Big Energy and Big Banks have trickled a small amount into the project. So even though they are investing/risking only ~15% of the cost, they get 100% of the equity for the IPO. The taxpayer assumes ~85% of the risk and gets nothing.

Those $2 billion taxpayer dollars could have provided 200,000 CA homes with all the power they need for the next 40 years WITHOUT killing the 4,000 acres or monopolizing our solar energy supply. Wouldn't that be how you want YOUR money spent?

Rooftop solar is genius - it has no moving parts and requires no maintenance, and generates power right where it is needed, without killing off the deserts for Chevron profits. It, combined with efficiency upgrades, is the only real chance we have at legitimately and affordably reducing GHG emissions, strengthening our grid, cleaning our air, and improving our economy (jobs, local income, and property values all shoot up with rooftop solar supported by FITs).

The status quo is Big Energy killing our wilderness so they can rip us off. If that's not OK with you, you need to demand more rooftop solar, including PACE loans and feed in tariffs, or you will wake up one day and our wild places will be gone, your house will still be worthless, you won't have a job, and your energy bill will have tripled. All without effectively reducing GHGs. Not pretty.

[jaggedben]

"Now, the solar industry is aiming for a point where it’ll install 10 gigawatts a year -– a goal it’s hoping to reach within five years."

The GLOBAL solar industry is ALREADY installing over 10 gigawatts a year. Perhaps what is meant is that in five years the US may be installing 10GW anually.

[mitch durette]

Scariest quote: “Any of the oil companies could come in and buy the biggest solar company here just like that”....