Thomas Edison: Clean Energy Pioneer?

Hello there, my solar friends. This is the first Solar Surfer™ blog coming at you like a blast of photons and I wanted to reach back in time and explore Thomas Edison’s contribution to the world of clean energy. What role did he play? How influential was he? No time or energy to waste right now, so lets get to it.

When someone thinks of Mr. Edison, light bulbs usually come to mind.  Maybe batteries, too.  But what is the common factor with light bulbs and batteries? Electricity! Yes, Edison was a man concerned about electricity and powering the country.  In fact, he built one of the country’s first central power stations in New York City in 1882 and believed that powering buildings would one day be one of the country’s largest energy expenditures.

The electric threads of this little blog are starting to come together…………

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Edison built volt thirsty light bulbs, batteries, even antiquated power stations, but how did he help the clean energy cause??” Well, let your friendly Solar Surfer elaborate a bit more. Some of the first public glimpses of Edison’s clean energy leanings were chronicled in the Atlanta Constitution in 1901, where Edison envisioned a windmill coupled to a small generator that could help power homes on the countryside.  Henry Ford even teamed up with Edison to build the original electric car using Edison’s batteries! Not only that, but Edison planned to build recharging stations along trolley lines.  Talk about a man with some vision!!

I know the last question on our clean energy minds has to do with solar, and did Mr. Edison have an energetic affection to solar power? Drum roll………….Yes! Thomas Edison was a believer in solar and if he would have lived longer, it would seem likely he would have made great contributions to the solar movement. In fact, I hope the following quote gets you bursting with some clean energy pride and will inspire you to learn a little more about the great man and inventor, Thomas Alva Edison.

Stay Solar,

Bringing Solar to Washington

Ready to solar?  If its not sunny where you are right now, then hopefully I can bring a little light to you with a review of an absolutely fantastic solar installation completed by First Power and Light for the Federal Government.  Whats so fantastic, you say? How about successfully completing the installation ahead of schedule? Of premier installation work on the oldest Federal Building in Washington, D.C.? Oh yeah, you heard me right.

Let me introduce you to the Mary E. Switzer Building. Located in Washington, D.C., the Switzer building is the oldest federal building in Washington, have been built in 1939.  The Switzer building got its name from Mary E. Switzer (February 16, 1900 – October 16, 1971), a public administrator and social reformer who worked tirelessly to help those with disabilities. In fact, she helped shape the 1954 Vocational Rehabilitation Act, which provided a great expansion of vocational rehabilitation service for people with disabilities.  In this humble Solar Surfer’s opinion, Mary E. Switzer was a wonderful person indeed!

The Switzer building was dedicated to Mary in 1973 and since then has housed various government agency offices.  Currently, the Switzer building serves as the base for the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. In keeping with the spirit of progress and positive change so inspired by Mary, the Switzer building is undergoing modernization to become a certified High Performance Green Building. So, as we see, the full solar circle begins to come into focus!

Enter the one, the only, First Power and Light. First Power, through hard work and a focus on being the best, earned the coveted contract to install solar on the Switzer building and help fulfill the Green Building dream. The full 141 KW installation was supposed to take 70 days to complete, but First Power got it done in 50! Not only that, but due to how hot it got during the day, First Power could only work till 2pm. And when I say First Power was under the gun to exceed expectations, this Solar Surfer’s not joking.  Due to how close the Switzer building is to the White House, security personnel were all over the place!

I can tell ya that First Power has a lot of solar pride in the Switzer Building and couldn’t be happier to not only spread the good word of solar and save the earth, but to also honor a truly wonderful woman, Mary E. Switzer.

And if the White House wants solar panels installed, I think I know who they should call.

Stay Solar,

Securitization of Solar Power

Alright guys, I think we should tackle a subject that can be confusing, but definitely has huge implications for the U.S. solar industry.  We are talking about the securitizing of solar.  I surfed the solar world the past couple days and found a lot of talk about the securitizing of solar PV assets. 

“Huh? What the heck does that mean”, you may be asking yourself. First, the basics.  To securitize something means to create an investment instrument, an investment product, that can be bought and sold.  This investment instrument is used to raise funds for a particular purpose and those funds can be raised from the public.

To securitize solar would mean to make solar projects an investment open to the public in ways that are not happening now.  The solar securitization effort is being led by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).  They have created the Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) working group to explore the issue.  Is that enough acronyms in one paragraph for ya??

Alright, I gotta get technical on you for a hot second, so bear with me.  The SAPC’s main focus is on the securitization of Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), solar leases and other contracts relevant to the deploying of commercial and residential solar systems.  In order to do this, the solar industry would have to have a standardized PPA contracts and lease contracts, and develop comprehensive, standardized data sheets so investors can assess the solar system performance as well as credit default risks for PPA host.  Just like the stock market has standardized information filing systems for public companies so investors can review to make an investment decision, solar securitization would require something similar.

So, what is the point of all this? Easy answer: access to more money, or if you want fancy wording, access to more capital.  By securitizing solar, individual investors or groups or companies can all get involved with solar and be able to invest in projects.  So, if solar was securitized, you could seek out opportunities to invest in large PPA’s or other projects easier than you could now.  It has the potential democratize, to revolutionize, the solar industry.  We are talking about opening the solar doors to hundreds of millions, billions of dollars of investment potential.

Solar investment opportunities for all, so to speak.

Alright everyone, I hope I helped shine a little sunlight on this topic for you.  When we have more solar securitization developments, I will make sure to let you know.

Alas, I must leave you now, I gotta get back to solar surfing for the next blog!

Stay Solar,