Lack of incentives means absence of solar arrays

PENNSYLVANIA - There are not many large solar arrays in Pennsylvania because the state has not provided financial incentives to build them as other states have done, state officials said.

Across the country, increasing the use of solar technology is being driven at the state level, said state Rep. Dante Santoni Jr., a Reading Democrat. That's one of the reasons Gov. Ed Rendell wants the Legislature to approve $15 million in financial incentives he has proposed for solar technology, said Michael Smith, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.

About one quarter of 1 percent of the total energy produced in Pennsylvania is produced by solar technology scattered around the state at residences and businesses, Smith said.

The largest contributor to that amount is a 75-kilowatt solar array at Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical in Spring House, Montgomery County.

Similar projects are more common in other states that provide financial incentives for producing them. For instance, state-distributed financial incentives were part of the motivation behind several solar projects tackled in New Jersey by PPL Utilities Corp., said PPL spokesman Ryan Hill.

Those included: A 500-kilowatt project to help power an aluminum plant in Pennsauken.

A 500-kilowatt project to help power a landfill-gas power system in Pennsauken. A 393-kilowatt project to help power a Macy's store in Jersey City. A 366-kilowatt project to help power a Macy's in Mays Landing. Though PPL has not worked on any similar solar projects in Pennsylvania, the company does buy power from wind farms near Wilkes-Barre and Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County, Hill said.

The company is also making plans to meet Pennsylvania's goal to have every power company produce 18 percent of its power from renewable resources by 2020. "PPL plans to develop $100 million in renewable energy projects in the next five years," Hill said.

"Those are likely solar, biomass, landfill gas and wind projects."

Related News

teck mining

B.C. politicians must focus more on phasing out fossil fuels, report says

VANCOUVER - Politicians in British Columbia aren't focused enough on phasing out fossil fuel industries, a new report says.

The report, authored by the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says the province must move away from fossil fuel industries by mid-century in order to meet its climate targets, but adds that the B.C. government is ill prepared to transition to a green economy.

"We are totally moving in the wrong direction," said economist Marc Lee, one of the authors of the report, on The Early Edition Wednesday. 

He said most of the emphasis of B.C. government policy has been on slowing reductions…

READ MORE
gas fired electricity station

Balancing Act: Germany's Power Sector Navigates Energy Transition

READ MORE

nuclear materials

Current Model For Storing Nuclear Waste Is Incomplete

READ MORE

abu dhabi nuclear plant

Crucial step towards completing nuclear plant achieved in Abu Dhabi

READ MORE

Clean-energy generation powers economy, environment

READ MORE