Senate Passes Udall-Schumer 'Buy American' Solar Amendment for Defense Dept.

[jpak]

http://politicalnews.me/?id=10137

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) hailed the passage of an amendment they sponsored to close loopholes that put American manufacturers of solar technology at a disadvantage to foreign competitors. The Buy American Solar Amendment, which passed Thursday night as part of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, will ensure that "Buy American" requirements apply to all photovoltaic (solar) devices that supply power Department of Defense property or facilities. The amendment was also co-sponsored by Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

The Department of Defense is required to comply with the Buy American Act and purchase American-made goods, including solar panels. In practice, however, the Buy American requirements often do not apply to solar projects at military facilities because third-party producers procure, install and maintain solar panels, financed by innovative long-term energy contracts with the department. Since the Department of Defense buys the power, and not necessarily the solar panels, a loophole in Buy American requirements has emerged where the military can purchase power from producers who do not use Buy American compliant panels.

The Buy American Solar Amendment will close this loophole and create a level playing field for U.S. solar manufacturers.

"The Department of Defense is a leader on utilizing solar power-not only for environmental reasons, but for national security reasons by making its facilities less dependent on outside power sources," said Udall. "We are closing this loophole so that the Department of Defense always buys American when it funds solar projects for its energy security. China does not use U.S. solar panels at its military bases, so why should we use theirs at ours?"

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[kristopher]

1. Obviously a response to this: "$1 Billion Solar Project Goes Ahead Without DOE Backing"

$1 Billion Solar Project Goes Ahead Without DOE Backing
By Steve Leone, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com
November 30, 2011


New Hampshire, USA -- Months after saying that it would have to scale back plans on military bases across the U.S., SolarCity announced Wednesday that it has secured financing and will move ahead with its $1 billion SolarStrong rooftop project.

The company had received a conditional loan guarantee from the Department of Energy this summer, but it was unable to close the deal ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline. At the time, the company said the Solyndra bankruptcy and the increased scrutiny of the DOE program derailed the conditional agreement. The company also said in September that it was planning to forge ahead with a much smaller version of the military program.

But now the project seems to be back on track even without the federal support. SolarCity and BofA Merrill, an original lender on the DOE application, continued to work to close SolarStrong without the loan guarantee.

...On Wednesday, the company said the five-year program is expected to create up to 300 megawatts of solar generation capacity that could provide power to as many as 120,000 military housing units. Under the conditional DOE agreement announced in early September, the company said the program would install 160,000 rooftop installations on as many as 124 bases in up to 33 states, and it would have a capacity of 371 megawatts. As of Wednesday, it remained unclear whether the program would go into as many states and on as many bases.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/11/1-billion-solar-project-goes-ahead-without-doe-backing?cmpid=SolarNL-Thursday-December1-2011


I wonder how it will impact the project.

[jwirr]

2. The DOD, CIA, Homeland Defense, and all other security departments

should be able to ONLY buy America. Then at least they would be strengthening the US economy even if they do not accomplish anything else.

Most of the spending for these agencies is dead end spending in that we get nothing usable for our money. If they spend it here in the US then at least it would be doing something.