A Solar Panel Plant in Northeast Ohio? Maybe, With These Changes

[AllanY2525]

Absolutely... I've said the same thing before about making
alternative energy stuff here and in the area in general.

These are the type of manufacturing jobs that would STAY,
long term, and be viable indefinitely - provided the plants were
upgraded and kept competetive with rest of the industry
elsewhere.

We have the mill space along the river, and working railroad
lines to help ship materials in, and finished products out.
GM and YSU could provide critical engineering support, etc.

[irishbobcat]

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
A Solar Panel Plant in Northeast Ohio? Maybe, With These Changes
Thomas Friedman has an excellent column in today's New York Times describing the changes required to make the manufacturing of solar panels and other equipment profitable in the United States. He counts three things as being necessary:

Allowing anyone to generate electricity from solar (which we do).
Connecting those customers to the electrical grid (which we do).
Mandating the utlility company buy power from these users (not in place currently)
He conducts an interview with Mike Splinter, the CEO of Applied Materials, a company that makes the machines that make solar panels. The Silicon Valley comapny has built 14 solar panel manufacturing plants in the last two years but none of them are in America.

The problem is that the United States lacks the advantages countries like Germany and China have implemented, namely "certainty of price, connectivity and regulation on a national basis".

I've looked into solar panels and the cost is $18,000 for a home system that will take 20 years to pay for itself in reduced electric bills. If utilities were mandated to buy power from residential and business owners they could reduce their dependency on coal and natural gas, lower their pollution emissions and most importantly, allow individuals to recoup their investment in home solar more quickly. Instead of reducing our electric bills we would be generating power and selling it to utilities during the day when no one is home.

I would love to be in the solar power bsiness.

The consequences are dire for ignoring these new technologies and allowing other countries to move ahead of us:

although consumer demand for solar power has incrementally increased here, it
has not been enough for anyone to have Applied Materials — the world's biggest
solar equipment manufacturer — build them a new factory in America yet. So,
right now, our federal and state subsidies for installing solar systems are
largely paying for the cost of importing solar panels made in China, by Chinese
workers, using hi-tech manufacturing equipment invented in America.
Germany has put 50,000 people to work in renewable energy industries. Ohio has a massive unemployment problem that could be solved by building solar panels. We're good at building things here. Manufacturing is sort of our thing. I think there are some synergies that could be put to work.

Posted by Mike Prelee