Sharp Sees US Passing Japan in Solar by 2010
Date: 13-Jun-07
Country: US
Author: Timothy Gardner
"We really need to make power in this country and we have the resources," Ron Kenedi, vice president for Sharp's Solar Energy Solutions Group, the world's largest solar panel manufacturer, told Reuters in an interview.
Germany and Japan have been the top two solar energy generators for years. Their governments, recognizing shortcomings in domestic sources of energy, were early leaders in providing incentives for the renewable energy.
While the United States has begun to offer incentives on the federal level, and in many states, there are other factors that could push its solar growth.
The country has only 3 percent of the world's population, but uses about 25 percent of the world's power, which has increased interest in shortening energy supply lines. US. natural gas production has stagnated, helping to push up power bills.
At least 24 states have adopted renewable power standards, which require utilities to buy certain percentages of their power from sources like solar and wind.
SOLAR GOLD MINE
Perhaps the biggest factor is simply the amount of light that hits regions of the United States.
"Look at the solar resource we have in the Southwest of this country," said Kenedi, "It's a solar gold mine." As the US. Southwest is more southern than Germany or Japan it is bathed with more sunlight than most of those two countries.
Kenedi said that in 2010 the United States should move from the world's third-largest solar generator and pull even with No. 2 Japan. After that, US. solar power growth on a chart "could look like a hockey stick, it could be straight up." He declined to say when the United States should surpass Germany, but the president of a solar industry group said it should happen within 10 years.
While solar power is among the fastest growing sectors in energy, it has much room to grow because it provides less than 1 percent of the world's power.
One thing that has slowed growth is cost. Start-up equipment can cost homeowners the equivalent of an automobile and take eight to 12 years to pay for itself, depending on incentives.
But creative financing, including wrapping the cost of installing the equipment on new homes in the mortgages, can help pay for the equipment. And home sellers can pass on the full cost of solar power systems to buyers, unlike other additions such as swimming pools, because power bills keep going up, Kenedi said.
Sharp has invested in educating the public about solar power because many people do not realize the potential of solar. Kenedi, who decades ago used to hold solar demonstrations at county fairs, said children understand the long-term benefits of solar quickly and can push families to adopt it.
