Page 78 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

Chapter 4 • Solar Power in the USA—Status and Outlook 73

The impact of the renewable Energy Academies has been substantial. Since 2011, the
consortium trained 284 high school and community college instructors across 41 states.
Participants taught 35 000 students, 28 000 of whom received instruction directly from the
content covered in the academies [36].
Another important industry initiative to fill the skills gap and raise standards in the rE
sector is the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP). NABCEP
has assembled “Job Task Areas” that categorize the knowledge professionals’ need as in-
stallers, inspectors, and salespeople. As an American National Standards Institute, ANSI,
accredited body, NABCEP credentialed professionals are trusted in the industry and pro-
vide a boost to those seeking employment [37].

4.4.2 Technological and Financial Innovations

With the most patents for solar manufacturing in the world, the US remains a leading
driver of innovation in the rE sector. The Second installment of the quadrennial energy
review (QER) identified the need for system flexibility, metrics for valuing solar, data mod-
eling and analysis for improved understanding of the electrical system, and transmission
system upgrades. This section will highlight these limitations and solutions emerging from
US r&D and praxis.
Valuing Solar: From a societal perspective, solar PV offers significant advantages to
our resource-constrained economy. Integrating utility-scale and distributed generation
PV with the grid, however, poses several technical and financial complications, requiring
a careful evaluation of solar. It is necessary to establish equitable compensation for the
value of solar to the grid and determine which party bears the responsibility for the invest-
ments required to upgrade the transmission system, the customer or the utility.
Unlike conventional fuels, which have environmental and public health repercussions,
solar PV does not emit GHG or use water in generation. These “externalities” can be quan-
tified and provide a more compelling argument for PV than simple financial calculations.
recent assessments show that the environmental and public health benefits of PV use in
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the US represent 3.5 cents (kW h) [38]. Studies by Columbia University’s Center for life
Cycle Analysis show that when fully accounting for the costs of energy, solar is below grid
parity in most states [39,40].
PV represents substantial water savings with cumulative impacts from 2015 to 2050
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under the DOE SunShot Vision amounting to 174 × 10 l (46 trillion US gallons) of water
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withdrawals, or 4% of total power sector withdrawals, and 18.93 × 10 l (5 trillion gallons)
of avoided consumption, or 9% of total power sector consumption [38]. Withdrawals are
defined as the amount of water removed or diverted from a water source for use, while
consumption is the amount of water evaporated, transpired, incorporated into products
or crops, or otherwise removed from the immediate water environment.
This is of particular importance to the water-strapped states of California and the
Southwest. A decrease in GHG emissions by 10% from 2015 to 2020 represents savings of
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$238–$252 × 10 to the economy [38].