Senate Dems Build Case to Include Clean Energy, Solar in Jobs Bill

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Obama appeared at Lorain County Community College in Ohio on Friday to urge Congress to pass legislation that includes incentives for training in clean energy such as making solar panels and windmill blades. Obama watched formerly laid-off workers weld and shape components for wind turbines as they work toward a certificate or associate's degree.

"I'm calling on Congress to pass a jobs bill to put more Americans to work building off our Recovery Act; put more Americans back to work rebuilding roads and railways; provide tax breaks to small businesses for hiring people; offer families incentives to make their homes more energy-efficient, saving them money while creating jobs," Obama said.

"That's why we enacted initiatives that are beginning to give rise to a clean energy economy. That's part of what's going on in this community college. If we hadn't done anything with the Recovery Act, talk to the people who are building wind turbines and solar panels. They would have told you their industry was about to collapse because credit had completely frozen," Obama added.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Green Jobs and New Economy Subcommittee, has been a leading voice on the need for more incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency, and successfully added several provisions in last year's stimulus bill for training and education for these "green jobs."

But Sanders has said that the investment was only "a good start," especially in the solar energy industry.

"The solar cell was invented in the United States. Unfortunately, however, we now import almost half our solar panels, while countries like Germany and Spain get more energy from solar energy than we do," Sanders said in November. "There is potential for huge job gains as we manufacture and install photovoltaic panels and solar hot-water systems and construct solar thermal plants in the Southwest."

Sanders said he is planning to reintroduce legislation soon that will provide incentives for buying solar panels and the companies that produce them with a goal to achieve 10 million solar rooftops in the United States in 10 years.

Thursday's hearing will include three leading U.S. solar companies that can help make that happen and are already competing in overseas markets. Vermont-based GroSolar, which distributes and installs solar equipment, has expanded across the United States and helped represent U.S. solar interests at last year's climate talks in Copenhagen.

Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar is the world's largest manufacturer of solar cells with a capacity of producing about 1 gigawatts of solar panels, which is helping to lower the cost of solar technology. The cost of solar energy is still high compared with wind or fossil fuels and is a major barrier to the widespread use of solar generation. First Solar has also provided financing and solar panels for large projects in Germany and is working on projects in France and China.

Meanwhile, Pasadena, Calif.-based eSolar is pushing forward on a different type of solar power that does not rely on silicon-based panels but instead a series of mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays into one area to boil water to create steam to turn turbines and create electricity. The company already has a 5 megawatt project in Southern California and this month negotiated a $5 billion deal with Chinese utilities to bring its "concentrating solar power plant" (CSP) technology to China. The company will provide the technology for facilities with a capacity totaling 2,000 megawatts.

Despite the headway some U.S. solar companies are making in the solar manufacturing and technology market, China has recently come to dominate the industry. Tax incentives could aid U.S. manufacturing companies to compete with China, whose solar manufacturing sector now provides a majority of the world's solar components.