Solar's new battleground: Colorado

Nature hates a vacuum, and apparently so do solar installation companies.

A number of solar installers with national ambitions have or are preparing plans to open operations in Colorado. Standard Renewable Energy, which is trying to create a nationwide network of energy efficiency consultants (see earlier story here), has linked up with installers in the state, said CEO John Berger. Besides solar, Standard also advises customers on light bulbs and heating systems. (Berger used to run the East Coast trading desk at Enron, but there's no probationary ankle collar on him. The East Coast desk was not the one implicated with blackouts in California.)

Meanwhile, Lyndon Rive, CEO of Solar City is moving to the state, he told me. Barely a year old, Solar City is the largest installer in California and recently raised $21 million in venture capital funds. Solar City's gig is group installing: It signs up 50 or more homeowners in new subdivisions to go solar. The buyers enjoy volume discounts and cheaper installation costs as a result. Installation is about half the cost of getting a solar system.

You can expect to see Conergy in the state too. The German solar installer has opened operations in the U.S. By 2008, Conergy wants to generate half its revenue from outside of Germany and half from products other than photovoltaic panels, e.g. wind turbines and biogas furnaces.

Colorado voters passed a solar subsidy and credit program in 2004. To date, the market has been served by local installers.

Although it snows in Colorado and the state doesn't get as much sunshine as, let's say, Southern California, it can still benefit from solar. Cold and clear are actually ideal conditions for solar. Snow can also reflect light onto silicon panels in certain circumstances.

Ontario and Pennsylvania--which are further north--have begun to prime the solar market. Conergy in February bought an installer in Canada.

Next week is Solar Power 2007 in Long Beach. All of these companies will be in attendance to beat each other up, no doubt. Expect a lot of news from panel makers too.

[billmosby]

Will they be heating-neutral?

By which I mean, will they reflect 30 percent of the incident light
back into space like the earth does, or will they contribute directly
to environmental heating by absorbing essentially all of the light?
Even the part that turns into usable energy eventually ends up as
heat. So if you build enough solar PV or other types of collectors,
they will have a noticeable environmental heating effect. Probably
should take that into account before all 6 to 10 billion of us get
hooked on the technology and have to be told to cut back.

[lynxss]

What are you talking about?

When you take into account that the vast majority of solar installations are over roofing materials (tar, asphalt shingles, slate shingles and metal) or car ports and parking garages (asphalt) they are already being installed in places that radiate massive ammounts of heat. What you are claiming is that basically painting a layer of black over an existing layer of black will increase the heat output, possibly but not to the effect you are claiming. If all of the solar cells of the world were put up over pristine grassland type settings then yes you may have a point but they arent.

If you look at the square miles of asphalt, concrete and roofs already put down radiating heat will putting solar cells on a miniscule billionth of a percent of that surface area affect the damage already done?

[SunnyDE]

Colorado State Solar Incentives

That's pretty big. If you're a homeowner and you're interested in the
solar powered incentives, you can get more info for
colorado solar incentives
here

[sjo1981]

hi,

Colorado being the largest installer of solar can encourage other cities also to follow them. Standard Renewable Energy would only save power generated by the Government to be used in minimum and could help whole nature.

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john

Addiction Recovery Colorado

[angelinjones]

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Angelinjones

Colorado Alcohol Addiction Treatment