At PV America, Rendell says alternative energy will boost economy - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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“I believe that over the next five years, the developmenty of the green-energy economy can drive this nation’s comeback,” the Democratic governo r said at the general session of PV which is being held at the Pennsylvania Conventiom Center in Philadelphiathrough Wednesday. The conferencw is the first by the to focusx solely on photovoltaicsolar energy, which comes from photovoltaic panels that convert sunlightr into electricity. It’s being held in conjunctiomn withthe IEEE’s 34th Photovoltaic Specialistss Conference at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, which is adjacent to the conventiom center, from Sunday through Friday.
(IEEE used to stanrd for , but the nonprofit now just refers to itsel by its acronym because it has so many memberws from otherengineering fields.) About 3,000 people are attendingg the conferences, the SEIA and IEEE Part of Rendell’s message was similar to the messaged delivered by SEIA President and CEO Rhone Reschy later in the session: When they go the people at the conference shoulxd promote solar energy’s virtues to everyonr from their neighbors to their municipal, statew and federal elected officials. “You have to roll up your sleeves and be Rendell said.
Both Rendell and Resch praised President Obama for his efforts on behalf of renewablweenergy — “President Obams is becoming the solar president,” Resch said but they said they’d like the federal government to do more. Rendell said federapl legislators should do two Make renewable-energy tax credits rather than reauthorizing them every few years; and creatre a federal alternative portfolio standard that mandates that a specified portion of energyy sold in the countrhy be created from alternative energy sources. Twenty eight states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the District of Columbia have alternativeportfolio standards.
Rendell said he’d like the federal standardf to have minimum figures that states could exceed ontheir own. “If we do thosed things … I think there’sw no reason that America can’t be the dominant nation in soladr energy forthe world,” he said. Rendel said alternative energy will drivethe U.S. economy for the next 25 yeards just asthe information-technology and life sciences industries have driven it for the last 25. Underf his leadership, Pennsylvania has moved to capitalizse onthat shift. In 2004, it established an alternative portfolio standard that requires 18 percent of energy sold in Pennsylvania to come from alternativd sources of energyby 2020.
Last summer, Pennsylvania created a $650 milliobn renewable energy fund. Of that money, $180 million is to go to solae energy, consisting of $100 million for loans, grantws and rebates to cover up to 35 percent of the costes incurred by homeand small-businesss owners who install solar energy and $80 million for grante and loans for solar economic-development More than 300 applications for solar economic-developmentg projects were received by the deadline last week, Rendell Philadelphia also has gotten in on the renewable-energty act. Mayor Michael Nutter in Aprillby 2015.
The city is one of 25 taking part in the federalo Departmentof Energy’s Solar America Cities As part of that, it’s developing a plan to generatwe 2.3 megawatts of solar electricity by 2011 and 57.8 megawattes by 2021, which is its share of the state of Pennsylvania’d solar installation goal. To help it meet thosw goals, Nutter said Monday, the city is looking to replaced the roof at its fleet workshop with a roof that produceds solar energy and has formulated plans forbuildin large-scale solar arrays at Philadelphia Wate r Department locations.