Solar Energy

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration ordered tariffs of 31% and higher on solar panels imported from China, escalating a simmering trade dispute with China over a case that has sharply divided American interests in the growing clean-energy industry. The Commerce Department announced the stiff duties Thursday after making a preliminary finding that Chinese solar panel manufacturers "dumped" their goods - that is, sold them at below fair-market value. The widely anticipated ruling, if affirmed by U.S. trade officials this fall, is expected to have significant implications for both the global production of solar cells, now largely in China, and the growth of the solar energy industry in the U.S., which employs about 100,000 people in manufacturing, installation and services.

That ray of light you see peeking through all the clouds darkening California's future? That's the sun. More specifically, solar power, in which California is the hands-down national leader. The state's installed solar generating capacity of about 1.2 gigawatts - the equivalent of two big conventional power plants and enough to fill the electrical demand from nearly 200,000 homes for a year - easily outstrips the next 10 highest-ranked states. It's also the fastest-growing solar market in the country.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced Tuesday that it has shelved plans for a 970-acre solar farm near the Salton Sea, just as members of the City Council signaled that they were unprepared to support the project. The DWP's interim general manager, S. David Freeman, said he was troubled by the costs of the 55-megawatt project, which had been slated to go up on land purchased by the utility in 2006. Freeman made his comments moments after Councilwoman Jan Perry, who heads the council's Energy and the Environment Committee, said she planned to send the solar project back to the DWP for more work.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration ordered tariffs of 31% and higher on solar panels imported from China, escalating a simmering trade dispute with China over a case that has sharply divided American interests in the growing clean-energy industry. The Commerce Department announced the stiff duties Thursday after making a preliminary finding that Chinese solar panel manufacturers "dumped" their goods - that is, sold them at below fair-market value. The widely anticipated ruling, if affirmed by U.S. trade officials this fall, is expected to have significant implications for both the global production of solar cells, now largely in China, and the growth of the solar energy industry in the U.S., which employs about 100,000 people in manufacturing, installation and services.

Utility regulators have approved $350 million in rebates to encourage Californians to install water-heating systems powered by solar energy. The state Public Utilities Commission on Thursday established the California Solar Initiative Thermal Program, which will be funded using $250 million to replace natural-gas-powered water heaters, with $25 million set aside for low-income customers. An additional $100.8 million will be used to swap out water heaters powered by electricity. The rebates could reduce the cost of a solar water heater by 15% to 25%, industry experts said.

It's another drizzly, dreary day in eastern Germany -- oddly perfect, it turns out, for demonstrating the potential of solar energy. Despite the rain, hundreds of thousands of photovoltaic panels still gaze skyward here at the country's biggest solar farm, like a field of huge silvery sunflowers planted in neat rows marching toward the horizon. Raindrops splotch their faces, and the steely gray clouds curtain the sun. But the panels remain busy absorbing solar radiation to convert into electricity.

AT first glance, Paul Rupert's Livermore, Calif., home looks like any other residence. But the 2,900-square-foot house has a powerful secret. Last year, Rupert installed a solar energy system that cut his monthly electricity and heating bill from $400 to $25. Rather than use traditional photovoltaic panels that mount to a rack and are sometimes considered unsightly, Rupert choose integrated solar roof tiles that interlock with his new concrete roof tiles and lie flat.

Arco Solar Inc. introduced its latest solar electricity-generating device in December to raves from industry analysts. Brisk sales of its Genesis module, which is powerful enough to run a small television set, already have solidified the Chatsworth company's position as the industry sales leader. Yet there is a new, cautious tone at Arco Solar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlantic Richfield Co., as well as in the entire photovoltaic industry.

Harold Hay wants to help the world save itself, but he's running out of time. Forty years ago, Hay invented a simple, inexpensive way to heat and cool a home using the sun's rays, but without the panels and wiring that come with conventional solar energy systems. He's been pushing for its adoption ever since, trying to find footing in each of the solar industry's last three boom-and-bust cycles.

Storm clouds hovered over the San Fernando Valley, but businessman Jack Engel was smiling as he pointed to a row of solar inverters at one of two commercial warehouses he owns in Sun Valley. Power was being generated despite the weather, no problem. His problem, he said, has been the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. "I like the idea of solar, but unfortunately my experience is that the DWP doesn't support it," said Engel, who has run a small manufacturing firm on Pendleton Street for four decades.

Solar choices Re "Standing their sacred ground," April 24 The choice is not between disturbing Native American grave sites or building clean-energy projects; it's between continuing these huge, inefficient, enormously expensive and environmentally destructive boondoggles in the desert or using solar the way it should be used: with panels on every rooftop supplying that building's energy needs. The attempt to fit solar into the portfolio of big energy companies is a doomed strategy that may be good for Southern California Edison's bottom line but is bad for the desert environment and the species that live there.

Storm clouds hovered over the San Fernando Valley, but businessman Jack Engel was smiling as he pointed to a row of solar inverters at one of two commercial warehouses he owns in Sun Valley. Power was being generated despite the weather, no problem. His problem, he said, has been the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. "I like the idea of solar, but unfortunately my experience is that the DWP doesn't support it," said Engel, who has run a small manufacturing firm on Pendleton Street for four decades.

The price of power Re "Activists feeling burned," April 6 Southern California has many large, empty rooftops that could easily support a sea of solar panels. Exploitation of this vast resource, which is already connected to the grid, should be a top regional priority. Unfortunately, the decision-makers at our utilities prefer to stick with an outmoded business model that relies on corporate point-source energy production, in which solar power plants are substituted for coal-fired ones.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who was an early advocate for clean energy during his first governorship 30 years ago, told business leaders at an event here today that he was committed to picking up where he left off.  Brown talked about tax incentives for solar energy that he approved in 1977, initiatives that he said were eagerly embraced.  At the time, there was "no resistance," he said. "Those were the good times. " Today, the governor, who is in the second year of his third term, said he finds himself facing more resistance to his proposals.

After being pummeled for months by both left and right over the Keystone XL pipeline, the Obama administration is trying to start over -- this time with a new name. In January, the administration turned down an application to build the pipeline from Canada's tar sands region to the Gulf Coast. TransCanada, the company that wants to build the pipeline, more recently announced plans to go ahead with the southern portion of the route, starting from Cushing, Okla., which White House officials maintain is the more urgently needed part.

Green energy may be losing momentum inside the Beltway. But officials in the heart of Silicon Valley are betting on the sun. This week, the Palo Alto City Council approved a plan to buy clean power from local utility customers who install solar panels on their roofs. That's right. The power company will pay them, not the other way around. The arrangement - known by the clunky name “feed-in tariff” - is still a rarity in the United States. But Palo Alto officials want to help pioneer the effort.

It appears that The Times intends to do for the solar energy business what it is doing for the electric auto business: trumpet the overblown promises of heavily subsidized, politically correct but, realistically, doomed industries. "A Fresh Jolt" (Heard on the Beat, May 28) parrots the ridiculous claim that 40 megawatts of solar power will light 1,000 homes. Well those 40 megawatts are available only a few minutes a day. The average is much less--none at night and very little on cloudy days.

Power vs. the desert Re "The power compromise," Feb. 5 If people want renewable energy, they should understand it must come from somewhere. In this case, the desert ecosystem is the somewhere. Although the Ivanpah Valley solar site and similar projects represent a devastating loss to this environment, if we continue to depend on fossil fuels, there will be devastation just as bad elsewhere in the world. It seems that we Southern Californians are unable to deal with the devastation being so close to home.

Which California city currently has more solar power installations within its boundaries and generates more solar energy than any other? Here's a hint: it's not Los Angeles. San Diego is the California leader when it comes to solar power, according to a new statewide analysis that will be unveiled there Tuesday morning by the Environment California Research and Policy Center. In 2011, San Diego had 4,507 solar power installations, generating almost 36.7  megawatts of power from the sun. To put that in perspective, Environment California said that would be enough to rank San Diego among the top 25 nations in the world.