Renewable Energy Advances in the U.S. Despite Obstacles

The following is an excerpt from an article in 

The New York Times
Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Renewable Energy Advances in the U.S. Despite Obstacles 

By DIANE CARDWELL

JUST a few years ago, the future of renewable energy looked as bright and shiny as a white turbine blade coming out of the mold. The federal government was handing out money under the stimulus package, states were approving clean energy mandates, young companies were racing ahead with promising new technologies and big global developers were planting stakes for ambitious, utility-scale projects.

Now that picture has dimmed. The low price of natural gas has made renewable power less appealing to utilities and energy companies. The high price of gasoline — which has become an issue in the presidential campaign, as Republican candidates seek to use it against President Obama, has renewed calls to increase oil exploration and production at the expense of alternatives. State lawmakers are reconsidering requirements for utilities to buy green power. Surprisingly fierce competition from Chinese photovoltaic manufacturers has driven American ventures to the brink of bankruptcy and beyond.

And the problems of Solyndra, a would-be solar panel maker that collapsed despite receiving a $535 million federal loan guarantee, have given subsidies for green energy a bad name, which in turn has weakened interest from the private sector in financing it. A tax grant program important to the solar industry has already expired, while a tax credit favored by the wind industry is scheduled to end this year.

“Gas is wiping out every other technology in its path,” said David Crane, chief executive of NRG Energy, a developer that canceled the Bluewater wind park off the Delaware coast last year because it could not find an investment partner. “If renewables had gotten a couple more years of support from the federal government, it would be smooth sailing.”

Yet, though the waters ahead are choppy, with businesses laying off workers and shutting down, the prospects for renewables continue to grow. Major companies like General Electric, Dow Chemical and ConocoPhillips are developing or investing in new technologies. Many projects — some rushing to start in time to qualify for federal tax breaks before they disappear — are going forward.

And the Obama administration has been using some of its powers to promote clean energy, taking steps to open public lands and waters to private development of solar and wind power, while the Defense Department has been aggressively pursuing alternatives, both for its bases and for forces in the field. Late last year, for instance, SolarCity, a company based in San Mateo, Calif., announced that Merrill Lynch was lending it up to $350 million to install enough panels to power 120,000 military homes.