白宮太陽能峰會和變革衛士 (White House Solar Summit and Champions of Change)

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Deputy Director Zaidi: Good morning.
Hello.
My name is Ali Zaidi, I am the Deputy Director
for Energy Policy with the Domestic Policy Council,
and just absolutely thrilled to welcome
all of you here today.
I have the -- before I have the pleasure
of introducing our first speaker,
do a few housekeeping notes.
First, I want to say hello to all of the people
who are joining us online.
This event is live streamed, so everything
you say will be heard all around the world,
which is awesome.
We will also, to engage our friends who are tuning
in online, be taking questions for panelists --
others throughout the day.
And the hashtags that you should be using
are either #WHchamps, or #ActOnClimate.
And then a last note of housekeeping,
which is perhaps the most important,
the restrooms are out these doors and to the left.
So out that door and -- well,
right that way or left that way.
So with that, I want to introduce
our first speaker, who is a counselor
to the President and really doesn't need much
of an introduction probably to many of you, who have worked
with him along the years.
John Podesta has been a tremendous leader
on both energy and climate issues from his time as chief
of staff to then president Clinton, as the founder
and head of the Center for American Progress,
and now as the guy who tells us that we've got
to do more every single day.
We are delighted to have him kick off today
and this series of fantastic speakers, panelists,
and champions that will be speaking today
and sharing their insights.
(applause)
John Podesta: Thank you, and good morning.
Welcome to the White House.
Thank you all for joining
us at the White House Solar Summit.
We're here today to recognize the
extraordinary leadership of 10 solar Champions
of Change, who were chosen out of nearly 200
nominations from around the country,
and to announce a set of new federal tools
and resources that will help leaders like the people
who will be recognized today bring solar energy
and solar jobs to their communities.
Throughout human history we've harnessed,
of course, the energy of the sun in ways large
and small, from lighting fires to powering
the international space station.
Today, the real and growing threat
of climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions
has made more urgent the need to capture
the sun's energy and to use that energy
to power our economy.
The electricity sector is the single
largest source of U.S. greenhouse
gas emissions, making up about
a third of total carbon dioxide emissions in 2012.
In 2009, President Obama pledged that
the United States would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
by about 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
And we're on our way.
In 2012, we had the lowest emission since 1994.
But generating more renewable energy through
solar power is crucial -- is a crucial part
of the equation to keep us on target.
It's also what the best available science tells
us we must do.
Earlier this week, the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change released an updated report,
the third in a series.
We need to drastically curb greenhouse gas
emissions beginning today, the IPC tells us, if we
have any hope of keeping average global
temperatures from spiraling out of control.
That means we need to double down, to triple
down on our global commitment to develop
clean energy resources, including solar,
as President Obama's climate action plan does,
when he pledged last summer that the United States would
double renewable electricity
generation by 2020.
We have a lot to do in a lot of arenas.
We need to make our homes and our businesses,
our appliances and our transportation
more energy efficient.
We need to look after the health of our oceans,
which absorb fully one third of the carbon
dioxide we emit, and are becoming dangerously
acidic as a result, and we urgently need to help
finance clean energy solutions in developing
countries, where leaders are rightly seeking
to boost economic growth and human development
by expanding access to electricity.
But investing in solar power makes sense
for our environment, it makes sense for our economy,
and it makes sense for our national security.
By almost any measure, the solar energy industry
has been amongst the fastest growing industries
in the United States over the last five years.
Last year, solar energy was the second largest
source of new electricity added to the grid,
only after natural gas.
Every four minutes, another American home
or business went solar.
Since President Obama took office, the United States
has deployed more than 12 gigawatts of solar power,
enough to power 1.4 million homes.
And that means good jobs for American workers,
jobs that can't be shipped overseas.
Today, estimates put employment in the solar
sector and nearly 150,000, and the power generated
through those solar installations
is more affordable than ever before.
Since early 2010, the average cost of solar
powers -- panels has dropped more
than 60 percent.
That means that more Americans can benefit
from installing solar panels in their
homes and businesses.
And the federal government has done its part
to lead by example.
Five years ago, there was not one renewable
energy project on the hundreds of millions
of acres of public lands in this country.
Today the Department of Interior is on track
to issue permits for enough renewable energy
generation on public lands to power more
than 6 million homes.
And the Department of Defense,
which is the single largest consumer of energy
in the country, has committed to deploying three gigawatts
of renewable energy on military
installations by 2025.
That's real progress, but we know it's not enough.
That's why we're here today.
Agencies from across the federal government
have worked together to come up with new funding
opportunities, new tools, and new resources
to help families, businesses, and communities access clean,
renewable, affordable solar power.
The Sun Shot program at the Department of Energy
-- and you'll hear from Secretary Moniz
in a minute -- is announcing a $15 million
solar market pathways funding opportunity to help state,
local, and tribal leaders develop multi-year solar
deployment plans for their communities.
Those plans could include creating community
solar programs, or using local financing mechanisms,
like Pace, commercial property assessed clean energy;
if you don't care for acronyms,
to deploy solar energy.
One of our champions for change, Jessica Bailey,
sitting in the front row, knows a little something
about just how much a difference financing
tools like Pace can make.
Jessica comes to us from Connecticut's Green Bank,
where she's worked since 2012.
She designed a state-wide program that helped
property owners get financing
for clean energy improvements.
In its first year, her program brought more
than $20 million in financing to Connecticut
to support over three megawatts of energy, and millions
of energy efficiency savings.
All of our states should be taking advantage
of Pace and innovative clean energy financing
tools as Jessica has pioneered in Connecticut.
And today the Environmental Protection
Agency is announcing that the Green Power
partnership is going to aim to double
the use of on-site renewable energy, including solar power
by the end of the decade.
Since 2001, the Green Power Partnership
has worked with schools, with businesses, and with
state, local, and federal agencies
to expand clean energy.
And the Department of Energy is announcing that
they will be releasing two new guides in the coming
months to help state and local business
leaders finance and deploy more clean energy.
By highlighting existing federal resources,
providing model contracts, and publishing case
studies, the Commercial Solar Deployment Playbook,
and the Updated Guide to Federal Financing
for Clean Energy will help our solar power boom
to keep going and keep strong.
And those measures will help our Champions
of Change go back into their communities and build on
their already considerable accomplishments to deploy
more green energy, to help more low income families
save money on their electric bills,
to create more jobs, to inspire others
to follow their lead.
Elyse Cherry from Boston Community Capital
has helped secure financing for over 17,000 solar
panels for affordable housing
in community facilities.
Henry Red Cloud has started one of the United
States' first 100-percent Native American owned
and operated renewable energy companies,
employing tribal members to manufacture and install
solar air heating systems on reservations
across the Great Plains.
Tim Sears cofounded a company that has installed
more than 4,000 solar projects and provided
more than 15,000 people with training
and job experience.
All of our champions of change have worked each
day to demonstrate what we all know to be true:
solar power is a smart investment, it's good for
our climate, it's good for our economy,
and it's good for our communities.
And deployed solar power can even make our
communities more resilient in the face
of extreme weather.
The science of climate change tells us that,
while it's impossible to attribute any one storm
to climate change, rising average global
temperatures will make our weather more extreme
over all; droughts will be longer lasting and more
severe, some places will see more torrential
downpours, and more floods; the seas,
of course, will rise, storm surge will be more
of a problem.
And since 2003, weather related
blackouts have doubled.
Severe weather is the leading cause
of power outages in the United States.
When the power grid is damaged or down,
it's more than a temporary inconvenience.
Extended power outages are a danger to public health,
they're a drain on local economies.
Homes and businesses with their own source
of power are more resilient to the impacts
of extreme weather.
So that's why, even as we gather to recognize
the achievement of our champions of change,
I want to challenge all the people in the audience
today and all the people watching to do more.
We need leaders like you to step up
in the coming weeks and months to make commitments
to deploy solar power in your communities.
We need you to partner with state
and local tribal leaders.
We need you to work with local businesses.
We need you to reach out to community development
financial institutions, and federal agencies,
and investment firms to raise financing
to bring solar power to low income neighborhoods.
If you do, we can curb the dangerous greenhouse
gas emissions that are damaging our climate;
we can make our communities more resilient
against severe weather, we can bring clean, affordable
energy to American homes and businesses,
we can create jobs, and create opportunities
for American workers.
And because the sun will rise each day in the east,
and because leaders like you will rise with
it and hard work for your communities,
for your neighbors and for all Americans.
So thank you for what you're been doing,
I challenge you to do even more.
And we'll be standing with you as you approach
the challenges in your own communities.
Thank you again for being here.
I'll turn the floor over.
(applause)
Deputy Director Zaidi: Thanks again, John,
for those remarks.
Next up, we have the Secretary of the
Department of Energy, which is responsible
for everything, from nuclear waste to advanced nuclear
power -- I started with the best one --
to a range of technology investments that really
represent the full breadth of the President's
'all of the above' energy strategy.
Secretary Moniz, before he joined the
Obama administration, was a professor of physics --
my favorite subject in college;
I'm sure many of you can relate -- and engineering.
And this is his first time in government.
He served previously in the Clinton
administration, both at the Department of Energy
and the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Please help me join in welcoming Secretary Moniz.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: Well, thank you, Ali, although
I might reconsider after that
nuclear waste comment.
(laughter)
Secretary Moniz: But -- and also, I want to
say thanks to John Podesta, not just for his remarks
today, but for the leadership he is bringing
to the President's energy and climate agenda.
And it's really been great to be reunited with
John in terms of working on these
clean energy challenges.
You know, and the President mentioned
in his State of the Union address,
every four minutes another American home
or business goes solar.
And I think the people -- many people in this room
are really important parts of that reality,
and we thank you for that and it's an honor
to be able to recognize what you have done.
I've said many times before,
including in my pre-return to government period,
that I certainly am very, very bullish on the future of solar.
We can talk about numbers like four --
nearly five gigawatts total solar technologies installation
in 2013, over a third of our total deployment.
I'm almost embarrassed to say that my first exposure
to solar panels was more than 50 years ago,
when I, as a high school student I went to Bell Labs and saw
the nearly complete
first Telstar Communications satellite.
You know, a ball covered with solar panels
and it was really quite something to see.
But then in my more recent past, as Ali mentioned,
at MIT where I directed the MIT Energy Initiative,
in our first four years we had a tremendous growth
of the program, showing the commitment of students
and faculty to the energy and climate agenda,
and within that time period we had 104 solar projects,
clearly the long pole in our energy tent there.
And so, again, very, very major commitment.
Now since those Telstar days, obviously,
photovoltaic panels and modules have certainly
declined in cost a couple orders of magnitudes
since the Telstar days, as John said,
maybe 75 percent since 2008.
And of course, that cost reduction is part
and parcel of the deployment increases that
we are seeing so aggressively.
John mentioned jobs, nearly 150,000, and --
but that increase in jobs in solar industry
in the United States, about 20 percent since the fall
of 2012, and that is very, very substantially above
the overall job creation rate.
So I think we're seeing a number of indicators
and a number of important impacts.
Today, in my remarks, I will get to the
announcement that John announced, but I wanted
to emphasize a little bit here something that is,
in some sense, the innovation chain that leads
to the kinds of deployments that you can do,
and even accelerate as we continue to drive
the costs down, for example, in this area.
So I want to talk about our role briefly across
the entire innovation chain:
research, development, demonstration,
and deployment of solar.
We all know that the, one might say, traditional
role of the government in supporting basic research
is well recognized, but I want to say that
we are working across the innovation chain,
all the way from basic research to deployment,
because of something that John also mentioned:
the urgency of responding to the greenhouse gas emission
challenge, the urgency that was reinforced
by the IPCC report just last weekend,
by the reality that if we want to accomplish the climate
risk mitigation goals that we feel are so critical,
it's only good business sense to be doing that
now before it gets a lot more expensive and
a lot more difficult down the road.
And that, of course, is at the basis
of the President's climate action plan.
I just want to make one more comment that --
in this kind of introduction, it's a quote that
I've used many times from a person Harish Hande
in India, who has been very, very instrumental,
particularly in off-grid applications of solar.
And in some sense, one might say a dichotomy
between on-grid and off-grid, this was some
years ago where he said that solar energy at that
time is too expensive for the rich,
but very affordable for the poor.
And of course, the idea was there that solar,
off-grid, scalable can mean so much to those
who don't have electricity.
But we're reaching the point where it's going
to be affordable for everybody
in all applications, and that's what we're seeing
in this country.
And that's a pretty remarkable development
over just six or seven years, in fact,
in terms of where we're going.
But as I said, innovation.
Department of Energy is -- in many ways
our major focus is on this innovation chain.
The -- I want to just repeat it again and again.
The object of that innovation
is continued cost reduction in these zero carbon technologies,
and solar in particular.
So this is just a few things
I'll just say across that spectrum.
For example, on the research side,
much of it at universities, we support energy frontier
research centers, which are really looking
at the grand challenges that are going to permit brand new
materials in the future.
It will provide, maybe, flexible materials.
You know, the whole array.
Organic materials, whatever the solution is,
probably at the nano-scale,
but the idea is, that they will again be cost reducers.
It may be, for example, in eliminating a lot of the
substrates that one needs, the weight that drives
a lot of system cost.
So we will continue to work that way.
Our laboratories are clearly engaged as well.
NREL, our National Renewable Laboratory
in Colorado, continues to drive the efficiency
frontier at the lab scale within
private sector implications.
But I'll mention another example of what
NREL was part of now some years back, and that was working
in the early stages of first solar in terms
of developing the thin film deposition
technologies that then drove first solar from
a startup company to a company that installed
a gigawatt last year.
Of course, the SunShot Incubator Program,
$104 million in government funds has now leveraged
$1.8 billion in investment funds,
venture capital, equity investments.
Again, it's pretty good leverage.
One company from that program, Enova Light,
used the funding to increase conversion efficiency
of its cells from 14 to 19 percent, which made them
very attractive to DuPont, which is continuing
to develop the technology.
Our ARPA-E program takes yet a different cut,
kind of an entrepreneurial approach to technology
development, including a very important component,
tech to market work with every awardee.
Again, a whole bunch
of technologies here, including supporting
new manufacturing technologies.
Same theme.
Cost reduction, as well as the essential enabling
technologies, like power conversion devices and
storage, that will even make solar more
attractive as we go forward.
One ARPA-E recipient, Primus Power,
working with the military.
John mentioned the
Department of Defense commitments.
In this case, developing a low cost,
energy-dense storage system that can store enough energy
to operate a military base for 72 hours
in the event of a disruption.
They are building a micro-grid in Myanmar,
and they will use solar power during the day,
and of course charging up their batteries for the
rest of the time.
When it comes to distributing solar
in particular, of course we all know that another
issue is the system cost reduction,
the soft costs at such an important part of the challenge.
In the United States there are more than
18,000 local jurisdictions with their
own PV permitting requirements.
I know many of you face that in your work.
This can be expensive, it can be burdensome,
and we now know that many of these soft costs
are now the dominate costs, in fact, of as system.
So again, in our Sunshine Initiative we are, through
our rooftop solar challenge,
working to reduce installation costs and to try to speed
the permitting process for rooftop solar units.
A couple of success stories, and we need
to scale this up dramatically,
Broward County, Florida, a solar energy system permit
and a preapproved set of design plans now
is a 30-minute affair and not a many, many week affair.
And that means, of course, cost as well as less
frustration, shall we say.
In Chicago, again, solar permits are now down
to about 25 percent less than they were just recently.
Again, a day instead of a month.
And so we need to keep thinking across this --
the board, as I say, from that early stage
innovation all the way
to these critical deployment issues.
And as john indicated, so today we're very pleased
to say that through the Sunshine Initiative
we'll be offering $15 million to help communities develop
multi-year solar deployment plans that will
enable them to install, again,
affordable solar electricity for homes and businesses.
This solar market pathways funding opportunity aims
to help communities expand solar markets,
remove red tape,
and build public-private partnerships.
As part of this, communities could choose
to launch shared solar programs,
giving families and businesses opportunities to own,
lease, or purchase electricity from
a share of a larger solar project, again, reducing overall
costs, same theme, and giving
more consumers access to solar.
The -- I'll just mention another initiative
that is, maybe indirectly relevant here,
but very, very important.
The President of course has emphasized strongly
the idea of our building more manufacturing hubs.
This is about the enabling technologies
for manufacturing in this country in the future
for solar and for many, many other areas.
So for example, in January I was very honored
to join the President in North Carolina,
where we launched a manufacturing
hub on wide-band gap semi-conductors.
Power electronics.
Again, multiple applications including
in this business.
Finally, in terms of some of the clean energy
finance issues that, again, John Podesta
alluded to, we are in the White House,
at the Department of Energy, and across the government,
looking at all -- many methods of advancing
clean energy finance.
I'll just mention one of -- this is not exactly
now at the small scale, but one of our programs,
the loan program, is one that we are continuing
to move aggressively.
In the solar business you know that this has been
not without controversy, but I want to say flat
out this program has been a tremendous success when
looked at as a portfolio, just over 2 percent
in a default rate,
but doing its job of first mover initiatives.
So certainly a -- one of the great stories here
is that, you know, in 2009, 2010 this country
had no utility-scale photovoltaic,
or CSP really, plants.
And of course, debt financing wasn't
exactly easy to come by.
The program supported the first five 100-megawatt
plus PV installations, and subsequently
10 more are now going forward with purely private financing.
That's the kind of pattern we want, where we are
helping get things started, but of course,
it will take the private sector, ultimately,
to manage the scale of it.
Similarly, on CSP, we dedicated
the Ivanpah facility recently in Southern California.
Pretty impressive; you've got to admit,
seeing it from more than 300,000, you know, big mirrors.
Three big towers, looks kind of like
the towers of Mordor, but to a good purpose.
(laughter)
Secretary Moniz: And again,
moving out of these first movers at large scale for future
deployment not only in the United States,
but potentially around the world.
And just yesterday we announced in our
Loan Programs Office that we are now soliciting
a new round of proposals for loan guarantees
in renewables and energy efficiency.
We anticipate the order of $4 billion here
being issued, probably in this case with
an increased emphasis on co-funding with other investors.
So we continue to -- I want to make it clear,
we continue to advance this program and
we are advancing this program across the clean energy
spectrum and specifically, as I said yesterday's
announcement was for renewables
and energy efficiency.
So, I'm going to be -- have the pleasure
of moving on to acknowledge our champions.
I'll do so after just one last thought,
and again, it refers to some of the people in this room.
People are obviously at least as important
as the technology, and again, that includes
our champions today and it includes
all of the students that we are training for a variety
of roles in our clean energy future.
The -- as I said, and I'll just end by repeating,
I, at least personally, and I think others
in this administration pretty uniformly
are very bullish on solar, and look forward to the continuing
contributions that the champions
of change will make.
Actually, one last factoid I'll just mention.
In driving in here today, I read from
a Bloomberg New Energy Finance some data that were new to me,
at least, that -- it commented about last year.
A 23 percent increase in global solar capacity,
and a 9 percent increase in global
clean energy investment.
So up to nearly $48 billion
in the first quarter of 2014.
We all know some of the recent trends have
been difficult, and this could
be a very, very interesting turnaround, we hope,
a continuing turnaround in this trend.
So with that, I am going to read the names
of our awardees with a very, very short bio.
I'd like you to stand so that everyone can stare
at you for a little bit --
(laughter)
Secretary Moniz: -- and then
acknowledge your contributions.
So Jessica Bailey from Norwalk, Connecticut.
She is the director of commercial
and industrial property, assessed clean energy,
see Pace, at Connecticut's Clean Energy
Finance and Investment Authority.
Thank you.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: Donald Baird, from New York --
New York, New York, I should say,
just to make that clear.
He is the founder of Block Power,
a startup that markets and finances the
installation of energy efficiency and renewable
energy technologies in religious institutions, small businesses,
and nonprofits, and in underserved communities.
Individual and institutional impact
investors are connected to solar and energy
efficiency project finance opportunities
via Block Power's online platform.
And thank you, again, for your contribution.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: Kate Bowman,
Salt Lake City, Utah.
Kate is the Solar Project Coordinator
for Utah Clean Energy, and coordinates community solar
initiatives to help individuals
tackle logistical and financial barriers
to solar deployment.
Thank you.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: Elyse Cherry, from Brookline,
Massachusetts, my hometown.
And I've got to say that, actually,
on Tuesday is Earth Day, a reminder and actually
so I'll be in Boston with Administrator Gina McCarthy,
another Boston native, but she's
from Jamaica Plain, not Brookline.
Anyway, we'll be pleased to be doing
a set of events in Boston on Earth Day.
Anyway, Elyse is CEO of Boston Community Capital,
which has placed over 17,000 panels
on the roofs of affordable housing and community
facilities, reducing carbon emissions by the equivalent
of 6.7 million miles of car travel.
Thank you.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: I especially appreciate
the pollution reduction in our hometown, so anyway.
Ishmael Guerrero, from Denver.
Ishmael is Executive Director
of the Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver.
He's been a leader in adopting solar power
at the Housing Authority, including two
and a half megawatts of generation on affordable
single-family residences this year.
Thank you.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: Peter Marte, Atlanta, Georgia.
Peter is the Founder and CEO of Hannah Solar,
which has grown to become the largest solar integrator
in Georgia, which is where I was two days ago,
I guess it was.
No, yesterday, come to think of it.
(laughter)
Secretary Moniz: Yesterday.
It's hard to keep track of this, but again, largest
integrator in Georgia, as well as being
the largest integrator of electric
vehicle charging station equipment.
Thank you.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: I might say I was
with your outstanding citizen-colleague
Sam Nunn in Georgia.
Henry Red Cloud, Pine Ridge, South Dakota.
Henry Red Cloud is the Founder of Lakota Solar
Enterprises on the Pine Ridge Reservation
in South Dakota.
The company employs tribal members to manufacture
and install solar air heating systems
for Native American families across the Great Plains.
Thank you.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: Anya Schoolman, Washington,
D.C. Anya is the Executive Director
of Community Power Network, a national nonprofit
that helps communities support local renewable
energy projects and policies.
Thank you.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: Tim Sears, Albany, California.
Tim is the Cofounder of GRID Alternatives,
the country's largest nonprofit solar installer.
GRID Alternatives has installed over
4,000 solar projects across the country.
Thank you.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: Finally, Mahendra Singh,
from Clemson, South Carolina.
Dr. Singh is the D. Houser
Banks Professor in the Holcolmb Department
of Electrical Computer Engineering
at Clemson University.
In the last 40 years, he's been a leader
in photovoltaic module manufacturing.
Thank you.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: And with that, I would encourage
one last collective round of applause
to all of our champions.
(applause)
Secretary Moniz: An thank you, and I'm sure
it's going to be a very interesting day.
(applause)