Chronicling the progress of solar energy has at times been like trying to follow Legolas, Gimli, and the rest of the Fellowship of the Ring on their journey through Middle-earth.
Here’s a possible shipment shortly after your initial departure: They have traversed the Misty Mountains and have successfully beaten the odds in the Mines of Moria. Goal Gandalf dies fighting a balrog.
Similarly, solar power continues to advance despite the tremendous odds: American manufacturers have been hit by international market forces, but they are struggling. Solyndra is killed by a beast known everywhere as the bankrupt.
Is not easy. However, in both cases, the search continues. For JRR Tolkien fans, the search will never end. My 15-year-old son currently carries a copy of “The Return of the King.”
For solar power, the news is generally positive. Clint Wilder, senior editor at market analyst Clean Edge, says in a recent post that “US solar installations grew 109 percent, adding 1,855 megawatts.” He says that is due to “falling PV prices, favorable policies in key states, and aggressive installer / financier business strategies.”
The battle for solar energy
That is not to say that there is not yet a Battle of Hornberg at Helm’s Deep. (Remember in Peter Jackson’s movie “The Two Towers” where the fellowship whips up bloodthirsty orcs in what has to be one of the best fighting screens of all movies).
Solar progress in California’s San Joaquin Valley has mirrored that across the rest of the nation. Development may not be that fast, but projects are getting the green light. The California Energy Commission lists 4,242.5 megawatts of major solar power generation projects approved in recent years and another 1,500 megawatts under review.
Meanwhile, smaller projects are underway throughout the state and the rest of the country. Here in the Valley, it is no different. But some spots are more progressive than others.
Signs point to job growth
Héctor Uriarte of Proteus Inc. in Visalia says solar projects have started to hamper the permitting process and open roads, especially in Tulare County. “We have an 80 percent placement rate,” he said of his organization’s solar panel installation training program.
That placement rate represents a 20 point increase over the previous year at your organization.
Uriarte says that the solar industry is very close to being a major driver in the job market. “Once it opens, the need (for workers) will be tremendous,” he said.
Damon Silva of Bakersfield-based AC Electric Co. said utilities will play an important role in how quickly solar projects materialize and begin to become a major driver in the Valley of the Valley economy. Saint Joaquin. “A lot of this has to do with the utility companies themselves,” he said. “There are quite a few of our projects ready to go.”
Utilities must approve the link of a power project to the grid. That power has to blend seamlessly with existing sources and not overload overhead or underground cables.
Educators seek to meet the need
The expansion of the industry means the need for jobs. San Joaquin Valley colleges have formed a group called Central California Community Colleges Committed to Change, or C6, to meet that demand. The program seeks to create accelerated educational training programs that produce qualified graduates for jobs in critical sectors that the industry desperately wants to fill.
One of the target sectors is clean and alternative energy. The group seeks to form training and education programs that are based on a common curriculum that potential employers can rely on. The group’s discussion at a recent clean energy meeting focused on producing graduates fluent in fundamentals and expanding from a solid foundation curriculum.
There is great potential. For example, the market for energy efficiency, which fits in with solar energy, is huge. Steve Earl, president and CEO of Sequoia Energy Services, says he has come across reports indicating that meeting California’s improved building standards for energy efficiency in new and modernized structures would cost $ 90 billion. However, the projected return is $ 400 billion in savings.
Failure is not an option
The need to clean our air is tremendous. In other words, the communion of the sun must not fail. My Precious, better known as the Gollum ring, for comparison purposes, represents in this case fossil fuels. Bewitching and useful, but ultimately deadly.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that six monitoring stations in the Arctic reveal what clean energy advocate 350.org has been saying all along, that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air are increasing. Sampling at these sites showed concentrations above 400 parts per million in spring for several years.
“The northern sites in our monitoring network tell us what is coming soon to the world as a whole,” Pieter Tans, an atmospheric scientist at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, told procon.org. “We are likely to see global average CO2 concentrations reaching 400 ppm around 2016.”
Gimli and Legolas
This solar communion has a long way to go before reaching the climax seen in “The Return of the King.” But consider this: the industry has quite a few advocates who are true believers.
These, whom I compare to Gimli the dwarf and Legolas the elf, have immeasurable talent. Consider, for example, in the movie version of “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” when the two begin to count their deaths at Helm’s Deep, courtesy of imdb.com.
Gimli: Legolas! Two already!
Legolas: I am seventeen!
Gimli: Hey? I will not have pointy ears to exceed me! [kills another one]
Legolas: [shoots two more arrows] Nighteen!
Soon, other members of the fellowship will begin to list not their deaths but their successes. The works will continue.
