Hey, Politicians: Clean Energy Jobs – Which Are Booming – Can Be An Electoral Winner If You Play It Right

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

A recent report from Ohio Advanced Energy Economy (OAEE), the Buckeye State branch of Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), got me thinking about politics (not, admittedly, that it’s all that hard to do).

According to OAEE, my home state now has more than 112,000 workers in the clean energy economy – more than are in all vocational training programs combined, and more than are employed in all car dealerships in the state (you have to be an Ohioan, I think, to understand the importance of the latter, but still).

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Ray Fakhoury, legislative affairs director for OAEE, had this to say:

Despite attempts to weaken the advanced energy industry over the past six years, jobs continue to grow — now with over 112,000 workers and 4% more expected this year — making this a significant economic sector for Ohio. But there’s so much more opportunity. Ohio could be a leader in the Midwest if lawmakers embraced an all-of-the-above energy portfolio that captures the economic benefits of advanced energy technologies.

It’s the second part of Fakhoury’s comment I want to focus on for a moment. I wonder if Richard Cordray or Mike DeWine are listening to this news. These are a new breed of worker for Ohio, and they deserve to have attention paid – and I’m convinced that even in this red state, support for improving and expanding jobs would play well. And, well, clean energy jobs are where it is right now.

(I know my Senator, Sherrod Brown, is listening, because Brown has been on the side of workers since he was a wee Representative representing the industrial stronghold of Lorain, Ohio, where my parents hail from and from whence I covered Sherrod as a wee reporter for The Lorain Morning Journal. I’m sure he could recite these statistics off the top of his head if you asked him.)

So I’m making an appeal to my own Ohio politicians to take note of this new voting block and use your office to support the expansion of jobs in this area. Too many towns across this state have been left behind as the new economy has emerged, and clean energy jobs can be had anywhere. Make this a priority, and it will help power you to the statehouse.

This message goes for politicians in other states, too. Advanced energy jobs now account for 3.4 million across the country, according the AEE. That’s a lot of voters, not to mention their families and friends. Clean energy is an electoral victory waiting to happen if only politicians have the guts to stand up to the fossil fuel interests currently corroding our political discourse and focus instead on the energy jobs of the future.

It’s just waiting for someone to take advantage of it – why shouldn’t it be you?

Chinese Module Companies Boost Production Despite Reduced Domestic Capacity

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

When China suddenly decided to slash its domestic solar industry by cutting off its expansion of new plants and cutting back on subsidies to end-users, some in the industry thought it might be a boon to the U.S. solar industry.

After all, those modules that were in the process of being produced had to go somewhere if they weren’t going to be used domestically, and the U.S. market – especially in light of the 30% tariffs – seemed a logical place for those modules to go.

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And indeed, you’ve seen some of that. According to solar installers I’ve talked to, module prices have already dropped to pre-tariffs prices, which means some projects that had been discarded as too expensive are now back under consideration.

Well hold on to your hats because Reuters is reporting that not only did Chinese module manufacturers not slow down production as a result of the domestic cuts, they inexplicably increased production so far in 2018.

To wit:

[China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) Vice-Chairman Wang Bohua said] the production of silicon wafers – a key solar component – rose 39% year-on-year to 50 GW in the first half, with solar module output rising to 39 GW, up 22%.

Reuters also reported Wang saying this:

Domestic market weakness has driven down prices and stimulated foreign sales, with solar component export earnings rising 21.2% to $5.51 billion in the first six months.

But overall profits and utilization rates in the sector have continued to decline, Wang added, with some manufacturers even making losses in the first half.

“As competition in the sector continues to intensify, and as subsidies are cut, the sector has entered into a period of low profit,” Wang told the conference.

I mean…wow. This is more amazing than any of us here in the United States could ever have imagined. Not only are inexpensive modules from China going to flood this market, there are even more of them than originally expected.

Lower prices could buoy an industry that had expected to struggle as the tariffs kicked in, and that could mean good things for employment, too. In other words, despite having a Trump Administration that seems hellbent on destroying the solar industry, the Chinese might be coming to our rescue with overproduction and inexpensive modules.

How does one say “Hallelujah” in Mandarin?

More:

China solar manufacturers raise first-half output despite capacity cap: association (Reuters(

Chinese Solar Market Suffers Severe Setback As Government Slashes Subsidies, Projects (SolarWakeup)

Time Running Out On Massachusetts Solar Legislation, So Act Now

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

With five days left in the legislative session, Massachusetts is running out of time to solidify and expand its burgeoning solar industry, and activists in the state are ramping up the pressure in an attempt to try to get something done before the end of the month.

Yesterday, in an effort supported by advocacy group Vote Solar and others, city leaders from across the state joined forces to send a letter to the legislature urging them to pass the clean energy legislation currently pending before it, which is designed to accomplish three things:

eliminiate the arbitrary net metering cap (or at least raise it by at least 5%);
repeal Eversource Energy’s (the state’s largest utility) “demand charge” on solar customers; and
raise the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) by at least 3% a year.

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The letter quotes at least 20 municipal leaders in support of the legislation like Framingham City Council Member Adam Steiner:

As a City Council Member and a solar homeowner myself, I have seen the power of solar to benefit families, communities and our environment. Solar is a critical part of our local economy and our commitment to making our environment cleaner, but we need continued leadership from our state leaders to keep solar on track. We hope they will heed our letter and act quickly on these important solar policies.

As New York, New Jersey and even Pennsylvania start pushing into the clean energy future with aggressive plans to increase the solar industry, Massachusetts has been shockingly reticent and retiring about playing a significant role in growing the solar industry in the Northeast. It’s mincing steps toward a solar future are a mystifying anomaly, and one that its legislators can fix right now – but time is running out. The legislative session ends on July 31.

Massachusetts was one of the primary drivers of the American Revolution – and it’s time they assumed their leadership in the Solar Revolution, too.

In Other ‘Water Is Wet’ News, Stronger RPS’s Encourage Investment In Renewable Energy, Study Says

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

There are days when you read about academic studies and wonder out loud, “Did we really have to study THAT?”

As I read the excellent story on KSL’s (NBC, Channel 5, Salt Lake City) website about a study concerning renewable portfolio standards (RPS), I had just that sort of revelation.

It seems that our intrepid researchers have discovered that states with stricter RPS’s encourage great investment in renewable energy. In other news, water is still wet and the Pope is still Catholic.

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I’m not diminishing the work by KSL reporter Amy Joi O’Donoghue, who does an excellent job of discussing the issues surrounding RPS’s and then bringing it back to the Utah RPS (which most solar advocates think is mighty weak), but I did scratch my head at the work of the researchers because, for reals, this outcome was as obvious as they come. The weird thing is, the researchers themselves seemed surprised by their findings. Take Lincoln Davies, a law professor at the University of Utah who participated in the research:

Strong laws work really well and weak laws don’t. The more aggressive the law, the more effective they are, which means they will also push down price over time.

I’m not arguing with Davies, of course. It makes total sense that stronger laws would encourage stronger compliance, which in turn would lead to greater investment. But I just keep coming back to the question of whether this really was a question that needed to be studied in the first place.

O’Donoghue notes:

About 30 states around the country have some sort of renewable energy standard on the books.

Hawaii has the strictest standard at 100 percent, with Vermont at 75 percent. California has a standard of 50 percent.

So let’s recap: States with strict RPS’s have utilities that invest in renewable energy. States that have weak or loophole-riddled RPS’s do not.

Well, at least that’s clear now.

More:

Study: Aggressive renewable energy standards spur solar, wind investments