Future brightening for solar power in Ocean State

COURTESY TECHNIC INC.
RAY OF LIGHT: Technic, of Cranston, 
produces metal products used to build photovoltaic cells, such as the one above.
COURTESY TECHNIC INC. RAY OF LIGHT: Technic, of Cranston, produces metal products used to build photovoltaic cells, such as the one above.

The solar-powered world that green-energy advocates long dreamed of isn’t such a fantasy these days.
Thanks to heavy growth in solar-panel production capacity, much of it in Asia, combined with steady engineering advances, the cost of generating electricity by capturing the sun’s rays is getting closer to parity with traditional fuels. In some sunny areas of the country it is nearly there.
But does solar power have a place in powering Rhode Island?
Historically, Rhode Island has lagged behind its neighbors in all forms of renewable energy production, ranking 49th in the country last year, behind only Arkansas, in nonhydropower renewable energy generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Next door in Massachusetts, government energy policies that forced utilities to grow their renewable energy portfolios made the Bay State a hub for renewable research, development and use.
Rhode Island leaders took steps to improve the state’s sustainable-energy position last year by passing a series of laws intended to increase renewable usage.
First among them was a distributive-generation law that requires National Grid to buy 40 megawatts of power from renewable sources by 2014 in 15-year contracts meant to give the generator a stable revenue source that is attractive to lenders.
Last December, National Grid signed its first three renewable energy contracts, all for solar projects. They were with New York City utility Consolidated Edison and ACP Land LLC, a company with an address on Gano Street in Providence.
Although falling panel prices have made it easier for businesses and energy users to take advantage of solar power, low-price competition from China and Taiwan has put intense pressure on American panel manufacturers. This has been evident in the recent high-profile bankruptcies of Solyndra in California and Evergreen Solar in Massachusetts and a general consolidation of the panel-manufacturing side of the industry.
“You are seeing a bankruptcy every week,” said Andrew Gabor, a Rhode Island-based solar-manufacturing consultant, at a recent Northeast Sustainable Energy Association forum in Providence. “There is a consolidation of the industry because of the glut of supply.”
Gabor, who worked at Evergreen Solar before its decline, said the falling cost of solar panels has been bad news for companies trying to make them, but could be good news for installers, designers and suppliers.
One Rhode Island company trying to navigate the tumultuous panel landscape is Cranston-based Technic Inc., which makes precious-metal powders that go into solar panels.
Founded in 1943, Technic has 20 facilities around the world. They include locations in Woonsocket, Pawtucket, New York, Florida, Korea, China and Singapore that make the ingredients in the silver paste that covers traditional silicon panels.
Gary Hemphill, general manager at Technic’s Engineered Powders Division in Woonsocket, said the tumbling prices are “certainly not helpful,” as panel manufacturers feeling the squeeze may start putting pressure on suppliers.
Financial upheaval in Europe is also a concern, as the subsidies in countries there have been drying up with austerity, undercutting a major market.
“The solar market is in quite a bit of disarray,” Hemphill said. “The biggest customers are in Europe where the [subsidies] are disappearing. The substitute markets – Asia and the United States – this year are picking up about 80 percent of the slack.” The company’s plating division is also working on alternative metal technology for “thin film” panels.
The Cooley Group in Pawtucket, which makes the membranes that cover billboards, is working on thin-film solar technology for use within the highway signs.
At the other end of the solar industry, Fred Unger’s consultancy, the Heartwood Group Inc., of Providence, advises property owners in employing renewable energy in development projects.
“When the price of installing solar drops and the cost of conventional fuels rises, you eventually get to a crossover point and a pretty magical thing happens,” Unger said. “There are places in the world where it is happening, like Japan and Hawaii, where costs are competitive without subsidies. We are not there yet in Rhode Island and the United States, partly because of the drop in natural gas prices.”
At the state government level, where Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee entered office saying he would like to diversify Rhode Island’s renewable usage beyond offshore wind, the declining price of solar has helped broaden what the state can do with its green-energy resources.
Julian Dash, director of the state’s Renewable Energy Fund, said because the government doesn’t have to spend as much money subsidizing individual solar projects to get them built, it can invest more in research and development.
“I am seeing [solar] applications across the spectrum, everything from small businesses and small farms to medium-scale businesses and large landfills doing utility-scale projects,” Dash said. “One reason we pushed for the [distributive generation] contracts is that with a clear-cut financing mechanism, that frees up resources for the innovation space.” •

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