William Nelson of Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and Brad Browery of SRECTrade know Solar Renewable Energy (SREC) Markets like the back of their hands. Maybe better. They joined us for the latest edition of our Get Some Sun webinar series to offer their insights on the diverse and often complex nature of SREC markets. If you missed it or liked it so much you want to watch it again, here is the full recording for your viewing pleasure …

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The New York legislature shut its doors for 2012 without passing the Solar Jobs Act or any long-term solar program. Although the Empire State missed a tremendous opportunity for solar power, we gained a tremendous amount of people power.

We diversified and strengthened our solar coalition, highlighted real solar jobs in communities up and down the state, showed a supermajority of voter support, and partnered with actor Mark Ruffalo to add his star power to the cause. Altogether, tens of thousands of New Yorkers spoke up for solar. The Hulk aside, that’s a lot of muscle.

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We know solar energy creates more jobs per megawatt than any other energy source. But what does that mean for a state like New York that’s considering a big new solar program? We sat down to crunch the numbers – and the short answer is: if Albany gets that solar legislation across the finish line before the session ends this month, they will help create thousands of local jobs all over the state. » Read the rest of this entry «

New York stands at an energy crossroads: the state can continue its business as usual approach to energy or build a safer, healthier local economy by passing the NY Solar Jobs Act.  And there’s no question that New Yorkers support the latter . . .

Today we released results of a bi-partisan poll showing that an overwhelming majority of New York voters – of all political parties, from all regions of the state, and across all kinds of different demographics – support proposals to increase the use of local solar power. In fact, fully 81% of New York voters support the New York Solar Jobs Act. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a SUPER majority! » Read the rest of this entry «

Yesterday Philadelphia’s International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 98 gathered with city officials, solar business leaders and Vote Solar to urge Pennsylvania lawmakers to get solar power investment and job creation back on track by passing HB 1580 already. IBEW’s own solar powered facility served as the backdrop. It was a nice sunny day for a solar press conference. Kudos to Local 98 Business Manager John D. Dougherty for sneaking an “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” reference into his remarks. Well played sir.

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There is some serious solar momentum in New York State. More than 100 state legislators have signed on to co-sponsor strong new solar policy. Governor Cuomo called for more solar in his ‘State of the State’ address. And thousands of New Yorkers have already spoken up in support of the New York Solar Jobs Act. But naysayers are doing all they can to derail that progress. We need your help keeping it on track!

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Both are ready to see more solar in the Empire State.

When Bill O’Reilly recently declared that he’d go solar except that “there’s nowhere, no one” to install solar on his Long Island residence, we called upon our friends in the solar industry to let him know they were there to help.

With hundreds of solar companies operating in New York, we easily garnered the support of 16 companies and 2 trade associations representing dozens more to let Mr. O’Reilly know they are ready for his solar business. Lo and behold, with a little help from the New York solar industry, Mr. O’Reilly found a “legitimate guy” who’s ready and able to get to work installing that new solar energy system. We know a few more . . .

Just this week, our New York Solar Jobs Act (“like” it) coalition welcomed the support of labor and trade organizations representing tens of thousands of workers eager to build New York’s solar infrastructure.

Along with the hundreds of solar companies in New York, skilled labor and trades will be a vital component of a vibrant and long-term solar market.  With unemployment numbers remaining high, the Solar Jobs Act would create and sustain thousands of well paying jobs in these hard-hit sectors.

Creating more jobs per dollar of investment than conventional energy industries, investing in solar power is an investment in both New York’s future and New York’s historic workforce.  In fact, 14 new jobs would be created for every million dollars invested in clean, renewable solar energy (see here, page 29), three times more created than the oil and natural gas industries for the same level of investment.

And while we’re eager to hear back from Mr. O’Reilly about his decision to go solar, we are even more enthusiastic about the entire state of New York embracing the promise of reliable solar energy for years to come.  This is what the New York Solar Jobs Act means.

With all kinds of new data out there demonstrating U.S. solar growth (here, here and here), we wanted to offer our insights into how these successes are playing out in one of our key campaign states: Pennsylvania.

Over the past couple years, Pennsylvania has become a real solar powerplayer.  Having developed over 100 MW of solar PV, PA is a leader in terms of installed solar and the jobs it creates.  In fact, last year’s Solar Jobs Census ranked the state second in the nation behind California for number of solar jobs.  We eagerly await the 2011 results.

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OK, so not exactly the Northeast but close enough.  More importantly, Ohio’s solar market is very similar to those of neighboring states in that it is premised upon a RPS solar carve-out.  0.5% of Ohio’s total electricity supply by 2024, that is; half of which must be derived from in-state solar resources.

As we reported on back in March, there has been some solar trouble in Ohio.  At that time, First Energy Corp had filed force majeure claiming they were unable to locate and secure a sufficient number of Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) to satisfy its 2010 solar obligation.  Remarkably, this was the second year in a row First Energy filed for force majeure despite *good-faith* efforts.  Two years of force majeure?  Seems like there’d need to be a whole lot of good-faith going on.  We’re not buying it.  Again, our previous reporting details our doubts. » Read the rest of this entry «

Having originally introduced an initiative in 2010 to expand the federal investment tax credit (ITC) to those participating in a community solar project, Senator Mark Udall of Colorado has recently re-introduced his “Solar Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Act” in Congress.  See here, bill here.

Follow the SUN Act Campaign here.

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