Solar power companies look abroad as sun sets on tax credits

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25564803

Solar power companies look abroad as sun sets on tax credits

Businesses are having trouble signing contracts for 2009 projects

updated 4:00 a.m. ET, Mon., July. 7, 2008

Solar power companies are racing to finish projects and are looking to overseas markets as the deadline for federal solar-power tax credits draws closer.

When the tax credits expire Dec. 31, small solar power installation companies could be hit the hardest because they depend on new business in their local markets. But even large companies are scrambling to finish as many projects as they can this year.

“Everybody’s making contingency plans,” said Steve Kircher, chief executive officer of Solar Power Inc. in Roseville. “I think you’re going to see cutbacks and layoffs in the construction industry. We’re not out soliciting new business.”

“It looks like for 2008 we have a very strong pipeline,” said Heather Dowling, a market intelligence analyst in the Sacramento headquarters of SunTechnics Energy Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Conergy AG of Germany.

…

[jpak]

1. DUers that oppose solar energy tax credits are thankful for this

:puke:

[LaurenG]

2. Listening to NPR on the way home from work tonight, they did a story

about solar energy companies waiting a year to get leases from the BLM. Most of the land they need is in the hands of the US government and the BLM is in charge of getting the leases to those asking. Evidently they are overwhelmed at the BLM because there are 1,000,000 acres in lessee's sights that have been waiting for a year to be approved. Not a single lease has been granted in over a year!

They did mention that this will expire and that congress will have to get moving on the tax credits vote as well.

This is very frustrating as the company they were interviewing has the ability to power a city of 500,000 as soon as they can get some sunny exposure for their panels and mirrors in the western US!

edited to add link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92342742

[bhikkhu]

3. The company you mention is Asura

and it might be worth noting that "their panels and mirrors" are still in the speculative stage, as is their ability to power a city of 500k; they are finishing a factory to build things, but a brief search has resulted in no indication that they have built anything yet.

I hope it all works out, but it also seems like there is no shortage of non-productive land (or what you might call "dry waste") in private hands and up for sale in the West. I know people with large land-holdings in Eastern Oregon that they bought for a song and would sell for a song + a little. No water though, and no soil to speak of, but it is some good sunny real estate. I wonder if the BLM thing is not overblown or skewed somehow for political purposes.