San Diego will be ground zero for 2008’s Solar Power Conference and Expo. The conference will have over 400 exhibitors as well as 60 plus conference sessions featuring up to date market date, policy, technology breakthroughs and industry information. The conference is a must for those with a professional interest in solar energy.

Many of the themes will focus on concentration of photovoltaic’s, solar thermal electric and solar hot water.  The conference will also feature industry leaders who will be available to discuss how to boost market development and reduce technology costs.  The conference will begin October 13^th and run all week through the 17^th. With beautiful weather almost always in the forecast in San Diego, be sure to remember your golf bags.

Source: SolarPowerConference.com 

Claymore Launches Global Solar ETF
ETFguide - Carlsbad,CA,USA
The index currently consists of 25 globally-listed investable public companies that specialize in providing solar energy products and services and uses

France set for rapid growth in photovoltaic technology
Creamer Media’s Engineering News - Garden View,South Africa
… growth in photovoltaic sales is Europe’s leading solar energy company, Solarcentury, which specialises in building integrated solar energy products. …
New Solar ETF Helps Spread Sector’s Risk
TheStreet.com - USA
The methodology for index construction is to select from companies that “specialize in providing solar energy products and services,” subject them to common …
Suntech Power wins solar award from Frost & Sullivan
PV Tech - London,England,UK
… provide the most innovative, highest quality solar energy products to customers around the world,” said Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech’s Chairman and CEO

Worldwide Energy Ships First Order Of Solar Modules
Solar Industry - Oxford,CT,USA
… and Manufacturing USA Inc. has received a solar module contract valued at $4.8 million from one of Europe’s largest end users of solar energy products

Everyone and there brother, sister and distant cousins are trying to find a solar power play from solar powered back packs to cars and more.  Its probably a matter of time before someone tries to come out with a solar powered festool chain saw or coal train even.

There are many factors making this a great time, but the two largest include the high price of oil (closed at almost $108 per barrel today) and the relatively cheap cost of American labor. 

American wages have held steady unlike European wages that have been fighting wage inflation.  Plus, the value of the dollar has dropped significantly such that foreign investors can now invest in American labor at very cheap prices today.

Plus, many Americans are looking to find ways to get into this new and growing industry.  They want to be part of the future, part of the solution and that is attracting some of the best and brightest talents to take positions working in Solar Energy.

The Silicon Valley investment capital is also going to be a major factor.  Silicon Valley has a lot of history making chips and working with semi-conductors and processes to improve chips and semi-conductors.  That deep seated know how is going to make it that much easier to advance solar energy now that venture capitalists are turning their focus to solar energy.

Politics are shifting in the US as well.  The days of zero Halliburton bid contracts and endless wars are going to have to give way to saving money and new power solutions.  If you are looking to invest, the time to invest in solar energy never looked better, especially if you are sitting on foreign currency.

I’d like to offer up a suggestion to the churches of the world.  Why don’t you consider installing solar power panels on your church roofs along with a grid tie in.  Think about all those churches all around the world.  They typically have very large roofs and surface areas on those roofs.  They are typically open for business just a few times per week and do not need to be lit up, powered up, heated or cooled during down times either.

They could gather up energy in the form of solar power, not only to reduce their own energy consumption and expenses, but they could also be used to generate income for the church.  A church could probably pay for their investment in solar power much faster than your typical home that uses energy on a much more regular basis. 

Plus, many churches are warming to the concept that protecting the earth is something that coincides with the goals of their religion.  Removing a church off the grid powered by oil, coal and nuclear power and relying on the power of the sun, could go a long ways in conveying the message to the members of their church just how important protecting the earth is.

You will note that I am purposefully straying away from any specific theology here.  I feel that this could benefit all religions regardless of what their theology might be with the possible exception of the Amish (but if I’m wrong and the Amish embrace solar energy please drop me a comment and let me know).  My point is not to try and convince anyone to send out their first communion invitations on recycled paper or anything like that.  Its just to practically look at this option from the perspective of an investment, a cost reduction technique and a means towards demonstrating and communicating the benefits of solar energy.

After returning from CES in Las Vegas last week, I can attest that the industry had an anemic presence if you just count trade show booths.

Today, the Federal Reserve Chairman went before Congress to give recommendations on how an economic down turn might be avoided.  One astute Congress Woman pointed out in her questioning that some of the $150 billion that might be spent to save the economy from a down turn, could be used to put Solar Energy tax credits back in place or to fund other spending related to solar energy.

This would have the double benefit of helping the economy and slightly reducing our dependence on oil even if only fractionally.  The trick to making this a reality is in finding a way to spend a majority of the money, over 60%, before 2009 and preferably to have the money spent by the government and paid to US Citizens that would then in turn spend it on Solar Energy products produced by US companies. 

If it is spent in this way, then it would give the government the most bang for their buck in hopes of stopping a US recession or at least ending it by the end of the year.

Solar Energy - Independent Energy Source and Economy Booster?

Now there will be a large number of other interest groups outside of solar energy looking to get a major portion of that $150 billion, but let us consider for a second how it could be spread out to US consumers.

The US Cenus projects that we will reach about 115 million households (population around 325 million) by 2015, with approximately 34 million people renting that leaves 81 million households of homeowners.

Note the Census does not look at households as free standing homes, so this number will include condominiums as well.

The average solar system installed with the ability to send energy back to the grid runs at about $35,000 (for a 3600 Watt system).

If Congress were to spend the full $150 billion requested by the Federal Reserve on solar installations for homes, they could cover about 4.3 million homes.    If they were to cover all 81 million households, that would cost about $2.8 trillion.

The current cost of the Iraq war totals about a half trillion dollars if you do not count the interest on the debt to pay for that war, which is usually tallied at about a half trillion dollars a year related to war efforts since 2003.

Congress could use that money as a starting point to test the benefits of solar power and supplying for the first 4.3 million people and could then move into covering all households.

Plus, Congress could benefit by taxing any income from selling electricity back to the grid, which over time could be used to pay for additional solar energy solutions or even other alternative energy solutions to cover gaps that solar energy creates.

This could also be targeted to areas rich in sunlight such as the SouthWest and the SouthEast.  As an interesting counter point, the SouthEast is suffering from a drought and is expected to run out of the water needed to keep nuclear and coal power plants cool by May or June of 2008.  If Congress were to act very quickly, this program could help offset some of the demands on the energy grid when or if power plants are forced offline due to lack of cooling water.

Plus, this concept meets the goals of putting money into the system quickly, providing jobs to the installation crews, and selling a large assortment of products from the solar panels, to the grid tie in products to converters, even fiber cable necessary to connect the system to  a computer an monitor the progress of the program.

If it could be helpful, Congress could even require an energy monitoring program be installed to gather data on the energy usage and send it straight into HUD for evaluation of further program growth.

Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:FCEA)(NYSE:FCEB) announced today that SCHOTT AG, a global leader in glass and optics and one of the largest solar technology manufacturers in the world, will build a 200,000 square foot manufacturing facility for SCHOTT Solar, Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary, on 80 acres at Mesa del Sol, a 12,900 acre mixed-use project in Albuquerque, NM. SCHOTT Solar Selects Mesa del Sol for New Solar Manufacturing Plant

The project will initially bring 350 new jobs to the state of Presidential candidate and current Governor, Bill Richardson.  Once the plant is up and running it will provide jobs for about 1500 people.

While other states in the rust belt are still cleaning up after less than clean manufacturing endeavors, notably many that triggered problems with asbestos and brought on cases of mesothelioma in workers, New Mexico under Richardson’s leadership is hoping to become as clean and environmentally friendly as possible.

The press release on the announcement goes on to give some background on the players involved in this deal:

SCHOTT is a privately held, 120-year old company that is a world leader in high-tech glass and glass-ceramics. SCHOTT is one of the largest solar manufacturers in the world, with operations in 41 countries and almost 17,000 employees. It is only one of two companies worldwide that manufactures solar receiver tubes, which are the most critical component of concentrated solar plants. The company has sales of approximately $3 billion.

About Mesa del Sol

Mesa del Sol is a 12,900-acre mixed-use district located on Albuquerque’s south mesa. By combining job creation and sustainable urban community planning, Mesa del Sol will reflect a balance of environmental resources, economic objectives and social amenities in a community that is forward-looking with a highly defined sense of place.

Mesa del Sol is a true public/private partnership. In addition to Forest City Covington, NM, LLC, Mesa del Sol is being developed in conjunction with other partners, including the New Mexico State Land Office, the University of New Mexico, with the support of the City of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County and the State of New Mexico.

Fortunately, the recent oil and energy crisis is triggering many very large companies such as General Electric to invest $6 billion dollars in research and development in alternative energy solutions which could include solar energy. The demand for alternative cheap energy, or cynically speaking, energy that is cheaper than three dollar a gallon gasoline and $100 a barrel oil has never been as high as it is right now. This is driving major corporations to put real money into their research and development projects, and this could trigger a new pipeline of solar energy development that could significantly accelerate the amount of progress has been made in this industry.

We could see as much advancement in the solar energy industry in the next three years as we have seen in the last 30 years if we look at the amount of money that has been invested now compared to the amount of money that has been invested over the last three decades. If you’re looking for a good investment in solar energy, you could continue looking at the widely known plays in this market as they will likely be gobbled up by large companies that have a long history in brokering energy in less alternative states. If you’re looking for a slightly more stable investment in solar energy, you might look no further than General Electric or British Petroleum.

Akeena Solar (nasdaq: AKNS - news - people ) soared 43.8%, or $3.49, to close at $11.45 after the solar power systems designer announced it penned a licensing agreement Suntech Power (nyse: STP - news - people ) to distribute its Andalay home solar panel system in Europe, Japan and Australia.
Akeena Solar Lights Up - Forbes.com

The market boost will definitely grease some wheels and doors for Akeena, but managing a multi-continent licensing deal with a Chinese distribution partner has proven complicated for many larger companies.  The stocks seemed to trade on the news of the expansion of the business, but in the next 12 - 18 months the reality of the deal will set in as tracking the complexities of a licensing deal will start to weigh in through various channels.

The risks of this type of arrangement are many.

• Akeena will have to work harder to protect their intellectual property.
• Akeena will have to take more precautions to prevent knock off products from being manufactured and distributed within the same international channels.
• Then Akeena will have to put solid auditors on the licensing agreement to insure the agreement is being adhered to and the numbers counted correctly
• One of the most difficult aspects of all, will be managing the US channel with International channels getting lit up by a Licensing partner.  All too often licensing companies and their own customers will see their products sold out of channel.  Akeena could very well see product sold under a Europe or China license end up in markets in the US, possibly at prices and rates lower than what Akeena is selling products for in the US.  This type of thing happens in low end products from car spoiler accessories and cell phones all the way up to custom home theater systems and it could happen with Akeena products as well.

In Summary, this is the mark of a good opportunity for growth for Akeena, but that opportunity will definitely be complicated by the ugly reality of Licensee management.

Dr. Al Jaber said: “Few studies of this size and with this level of participation have been undertaken outside of the laboratory. Our involvement will generate a wealth of original data and strengthen ties with the leading names in the PV industry. It will also position Abu Dhabi as an ideal location for the testing and verification of PV, spanning all crystalline and mature ‘thin film’ technologies.”
The competition site may be a modest plot of land at Masdar City near Abu Dhabi International Airport, but the implications are profound for the companies taking part. The results will help determine how renewable power is ultimately realised for Masdar’s zero carbon, zero waste city, which will one day be home to as many as 50,000 residents and hundreds of renewable energy businesses.
The site houses 26 one-kilowatt at peak (1KWp) PV modules mounted on aluminum structures; the equipment has been designed and installed by a major PV system integrator. The long-term testing will be carried out in cooperation with TÜV Rheinland of Germany, a leading authority on PV system performance and certification.
The generated electricity is converted into alternating current and fed directly into the local grid, representing the first grid-connected solar power system in Abu Dhabi history.
Masdar is at the forefront of research into larger scale applications of solar power and recently signed a contract with the Tokyo Institute of Technology to explore solar tower ‘beam down’ technology, an advanced solar thermal process that offers lower electricity generation costs and higher efficiency.
Photovoltaics is solar power technology that uses solar cells, either made from silicon or ‘thin film’, to convert sunlight directly into electricity.  Masdar Puts Solar Power To The Test

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan is the hereditary ruler of Abu Dhabi (UAE). He is the son of Sheikh Zayed Al Nahayan, the first president of the United Arab Emirates.