The American Infrastructure has changed greatly over the last 150 years, more than the ways its designers could have imagined. With the growing energy needs in the United States, scientists and engineers have been forced to re-examine the efficiency and security of the national power grid. This challenge requires innovations on transmission and monitoring of electricity.

The U.S. Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory hosted a workshop that brought together system and modeling experts from universities, federal agencies and national laboratories.

Through detailed simulations of how electric power is supplied and transferred around the country, researchers can bolster not only the grid’s security but also its reliability, efficiency and resiliency.

Because of the great diversity of ways in which electricity is created, distributed and consumed, engineers face a challenge in creating reliable models of large power networks. They have to deal with the intermittent nature of some of the sources (like wind or solar), optimize how power is transmitted and balance economic, security and environmental priorities when finding solutions.

The workshop, which was sponsored by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, identified barriers that a national grid simulation capability would need to overcome to be effective. The findings of the workshop appear in the report “National Power Grid Simulation Capability: Needs and Issues.” According to Petri, an operational plan for a national power grid simulation capability that engages industry to better understand their needs, capabilities and concerns would support a more secure and reliable electric power grid system for the future.

Moveon.org organized a green job tour across the country and councils leaders moved to tours different facilities. John Kimball, President of Sun Electronics answers questions regarding green jobs, renewable energy, and solar incentives.

Imagine living your entire life without electricity. It’s 2009 and there are still many places where that is still the case.
To the delight of the 85 families who make up the village of Ahire, Maharashtra they now have electricity for the very first time thanks to Solar Panels.

President Obama addressed the country on solar energy, at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas on Wednesday May 27, 2009.
“We know the cost of our oil addiction all too well. It’s the cost measured by the billions of dollars we send to nations with unstable or unfriendly regimes. We help to fund both sides of the war on terror because of our addiction to oil. It’s the cost of our vulnerability to the volatility of the oil markets. It’s the cost we feel in shifting weather patterns that are already causing unprecedented droughts and more intense storms. It’s a cost we can’t bear any longer.”
“America produces less than 3 percent of our electricity through renewable sources of energy like wind and solar — less than 3 percent. In contrast, Denmark produces 20 percent of their electricity through wind. We pioneered solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in generating it, even though they get less sun than we do.”
“So we’ve got a choice. We can remain the world’s leading importer of oil, sending our money and our wealth away, or we can become the world’s leading exporter of clean energy. We can hand over the jobs of the future to our competitors, or we can confront what they’ve already recognized as the great opportunity of our time: The nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy will be the nation that leads the 21st-century global economy. And that’s the nation I want America to be and I know that’s the nation you want America to be.”

Click here for the Youtube Link
Sun Electronics International Inc. in Miami, fl was a stop in Moveon.org Green Jobs Now Campaign. Their campaign was to provide more jobs that involves renewable energy to the city of Miami. John Kimball the owner of Sun Electronics was there as well to provide information on the expanding field of solar and renewable energy.

www.sunelec.com

When DOE has the solar application for the incentives the demand for systems will boom.

In Fla. when the State started the $4.00 per watt rebate nothing happened for 6 months. The public did not understand it, the industry did not know how to apply for it and those writing requirements for qualifying were like one hand fighting with the other because the regulators were either understaffed and/or unfamiliar and underpaid. Expect this with the Federal plan. But… once they finally get it together the cost of solar modules will start to increase rapidly from their current historic low.

It will be similar to what happened to Germany and Spain where the approx. $.60 per Kwh feed in tariff created tens of thousands of jobs and thousands of new companies. It also made millionaires out of people overnight and made these two countries the largest for PV in the world overtaking the U.S.

If you want to see the approximate cost for a complete system see below. We are using $7.00 per watt as the average installed cost even though we sell them for around $6.50 per watt:

States have some different ways of applying their incentives and other factors are important to understand so you need to go to www.dsireusa.org to review your state’s incentives.