Comments on: Interview with Tom Kimbis of SEIA — Summary

By: Strong Growth in 3Q Clean Tech Investments Despite Headwinds | CleanTechnica

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:05:58 +0000

[…] and Oak Investment PartnersFor more on clean tech investments and trends, check out the following:- Interview with Solar Energy Industry Association’s Tom Kimbis- Small Wind Turbine Growth Projected to Keep Booming- US Military’s Clean Energy Investments […]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:31:00 +0000

Let’s say that I trust numbers more than simple hand waving…. ;o)

This info, the amount of wind installed, the news you just posted about new transmission – smells like stuff is coming together.

We’ve now got multiple state and local Republican officials supporting, even promoting wind. I expect we’ll be there in a few years with solar. Let the green workforce grow a bit more and there’s going to considerable political pressure For renewables.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 22:58:00 +0000

Sweet, eh?!

I have a feeling you love doing math

(Don’t worry, I’m in the same boat :D)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 22:19:00 +0000

From the SEIA site…

“Cumulative grid-connected PV in the U.S. has now reached 2.7 gigawatts”

That’s as of the end of the 2nd quarter, 2011. By the end of September, end of the 3rd quarter the number was 3.1GW.

End of 2009 saw 0.6GW installed. Doubling to the end of 2010 would be 1.2GW, doubling again to the end of 2011 would be 2.4GW, looks like they’ve already made that number. And that does not include thermal solar, just grid-connected PV. The 2009 EIA number of 0.6GW includes thermal.

Full speed ahead!!

It would be nice if we would hit the 0.1% soon. That would be a nice landmark on the way to 1.0% Just takes 3.5 doublings to get from 0.1% to 1%.

By: Wind Energy Webinar | CleanTechnica

Wind Energy Webinar | CleanTechnica — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:38:05 +0000

[…] global economy).The need for fair subsidy/government policy was also mentioned numerous times in CleanTechnica’s interview with Tom Kimbis, SEIA’s Vice President of Strategy and External …, last night. Fair government policies across the energy arena are critical to renewable […]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:48:00 +0000

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:21:00 +0000

Well, that would be damn fine if it does. By then wind should be well above its current ~3%. Once we hit 5% for wind and solar combined a lot of the resistance should crumble. It won’t be easy to dismiss renewables as “insignificant”.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:16:00 +0000

He was referring to electricity generation — he mentioned the .02% figure.
And, yep, they’re projecting solar will double each year for the next 5 years.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:41:00 +0000

Thanks for doing that and reporting back.

I’ve got a question if Tom checks back in. When he says 1% by 2015 does he mean 1% of “nameplate” capacity or 1% of total electricity generated?

Working from the 2009 (latest released) EIA/DOE summary of power generation in the US I find that net generation (thousand megawatthours) for solar thermal and photovoltaic 891 kMWh and power from all energy sources was 3949694 kMWh. Solar generated only 0.02% off the total.

Looking at generating capacity is a bit better for solar. But due to the low capacity (the limited hours of sunlight) it’s misleading. Net summer generating capacity (megawatts) for solar thermal and photovoltaic was 619 MW and for all energy sources 1025400 MW. Solar ‘capacity’ was 0.06%.

Hitting 1% in four years seems like a daunting task to me. One I’ll celebrate, but it seems to me one hard to hit.

Where does Tom think the 2010 and 2011 percentages will hit? The graph above suggests a 10x increase from 2010 to 2015. If we’re going to hit 1% by 2015 it seems like we’d need to be at 0.2% in 2010 and that would be a 10x increase over 2009.

Or am I smokin’ crack?