Stimulating Projects in the News

From today's Commercial Appeal...

Stimulus expected to boost Memphis-area energy projects; Incentives to aid turbine, solar efforts in Mid-South

Perched on one of the world's major rivers and home to one of the nation's largest solar-power manufacturers, Memphis is uniquely poised to benefit from renewable-energy incentives in the economic-stimulus bill, industry officials say.

The legislation, signed last week by President Barack Obama, contains an array of tax credits, loan guarantees and grants that should prove a boon both to the Sharp Manufacturing Co. of America plant on Mendenhall and proposed turbine projects designed to harness the Mississippi River's natural current.

"With the stimulus, we have everything we need to grow very quickly ...," said Ron Kenedi, vice president of Sharp's Solar Energy Solutions Group. "This is our takeoff period."

Proponents of initiatives to install networks of power-generating turbines in the Mississippi, including at a site along Memphis' riverfront, were equally elated with the stimulus package.

"It's a major victory for us and for hydro power in general," said Jon Guidroz, director of project development for Free Flow Power Corp., one of three companies that has received preliminary federal permits to pursue so-called hydrokinetic projects in the Mississippi.

Formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the stimulus bill is designed to boost renewable energy on both the supply and demand sides. It includes a 30 percent investment tax credit to help offset the costs of installing renewable projects, similar tax credits for equipment manufacturers and purchasers, $6 billion in loan guarantees and billions more in grants and research and development funding.

To underscore the vital role of renewable energy in his agenda, Obama toured solar facilities at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, selected as the site for last week's bill-signing. The symbolism wasn't lost on industry proponents.

"We're out of the basement and in the front-row seats," Kenedi said.

At Sharp's Memphis plant, 230 employees already are at work producing enough solar panels each year to generate 90 megawatts of electricity. That capacity places it among the top three manufacturing facilities in the U.S., according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Although he declined to offer any specific pledges, Kenedi said that with the stimulus bill the plant is almost certain to expand significantly in the near future.

"As the market grows, we'll increase our capacity," he said.

That growth appears almost certain. The U.S. solar market has been expanding at rates of around 45 percent annually.

With help from the stimulus bill, the solar industry is projected to create 110,000 jobs, directly and indirectly, over the next two years, according to the SEIA.

"I think there are big opportunities for cities like Memphis," said Monique Hanis, spokeswoman for the industry group.

But because solar power still costs much more to generate than most conventional energy sources, additional federal policy initiatives might be needed to help the industry "scale up" and become more competitive, Hanis said.

In addition to Sharp, other beneficiaries of the solar boon include suppliers to the plant, such as AGC Flat Glass North America, the Kingsport, Tenn., maker of glass used in the solar panels. Its workforce now is likely to grow from 290 to close to 400, said Ed Wegener, a Bartlett native who manages the firm's North American strategic business unit.

"The stimulus bill is a huge policy shift in this country and will jump start renewables," Wegener said.

Most of the same stimulus bill components that benefit the solar industry also will help hydrokinetic energy projects.

Unlike traditional hydropower projects employing environmentally destructive dams or river diversions, the planned initiatives involve clusters of small turbines mounted on pilings, bridge piers or even barges where they spin like windmills in the natural current.

This week, the nation's first hydrokinetic project is expected to begin full operations in the Mississippi in Hastings, Minn.

Hydro Green Energy, the Houston-based firm that developed the Hastings project, also plans to build turbine clusters in the Lower Mississippi, including sites near Natchez and Vicksburg, Miss.

Hydro Green spokesman Mark Stover said the loan guarantees in the stimulus bill help provide financing for hydrokinetic projects in today's tight credit markets.

Massachusetts-based Free Flow Power plans the largest turbine array in the Mississippi between St. Louis and the Gulf of Mexico. Its 55 clusters would cost $3 billion and generate a total of 1,600 megawatts -- roughly twice the output of the Tennessee Valley Authority's local Allen Fossil Plant.

Memphis would be one of four "lead sites" for the company, Guidroz said.

Free Flow hopes to apply for its final license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2012 and break ground on the turbine project the following year. The network could create up to 4,000 jobs, including 1,200 just for operation and maintenance of the system, Guidroz said.