Solar Surge?
Solar Surge? John Woolard, CEO, BrightSource Energy Karen Douglas, Chairman, California Energy Commission Lisa Hoyos, California Director, Apollo Alliance Greg Dalton, Climate One - Moderator A \u201cperfect storm\u201d of policy and incentives has made 2010 a banner year for solar in California, but for the boom to continue in the state and the rest of the United States, major obstacles need to be cleared, according to a panel of experts convened by Climate One. Karen Douglas, Chair of the California Energy Commission, BrightSource Energy President and CEO John Woolard, and Lisa Hoyos, California State Coordinator, Apollo Alliance, caution that the absence of a coherent, stable, and long-term national clean energy policy is holding back the industry. \u201cOne of the challenges in US policy is that \u2026 it\u2019s been, ironically, perpetual and long term for fossil fuels, but short term and extended sporadically for renewables,\u201d Woolard says. \u201cWe need a longer time horizon \u2026 at least five, more likely ten years, is reasonable.\u201d Douglas agrees: \u201cIt\u2019s terribly damaging to extend a policy and then reverse the policy. If you do that too many times, developers feel burned.\u201d We also need to be able to deliver the clean energy to the grid. Woolard notes that over the past decade US regulators have sited 12,000 miles of natural gas pipelines but only 600 miles of power lines. \u201cIt\u2019s like running interstate commerce without highways and rails,\u201d Woolard says. If you can get projects financed and approved by regulators, it will mean jobs, Hoyos says. \u201cClean energy jobs are growing ten times faster than any other sector of our economy in this state,\u201d she says. \u201cWe need to fully put our energy behind opposing Proposition 23 so we can continue to realize the benefits of AB 32, which is expected to generate in the next ten years over $104 billion in investment and other economic opportunities.\u201d This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 8, 2010\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices