Training the solar-tech generation

via Newsday

Seven years ago, the Long Island Power Authority, KeySpan Energy and a coalition of community groups joined a national drive to equip a million homes with "solar roofs" by 2010.

They set an ambitious goal for Long Island - to have 10,000 homes with rooftop solar power systems by the end of the decade.

Don't count on it. Today they're only a little more than 1/10th of the way toward that goal, with nearly 1,100 home systems installed.

It's not for lack of effort by solar power's champions, including Yelleshpur Dathatri, director of Farmingdale State College's Solar Energy Center.

His center has trained more than 400 people, mostly electricians and electrical contractors, to install solar cells and the accompanying systems to produce electricity and hot water.

Dathatri, a 59-year-old college professor whose nickname is Harry, can tick off the reasons solar makes sense. Oil is on the brink of hitting $100 a barrel. The sun is an abundant and lasting source of energy, while oil supplies can be cut off by wars and hurricanes.

It's suited for Long Island, which gets ample sunshine, more than much of the rest of New York State.

Solar power systems don't release greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. For every kilowatt hour of power produced by solar, we avoid creating 1.25 pounds of carbon dioxide. So when we burn oil, Dathatri says, the question we have to ask ourselves is: "Are we justified in doing this for our children or grandchildren?"

Yet, at the same time there's another question about solar power: Why is it making such painfully slow progress?

The simple answer is that, even with $100 oil, solar isn't yet nearly as cheap as burning oil and coal. Rebates and tax credits narrow the gap, and improving technology will narrow it further. But it still costs a lot of money to install a solar system.

It takes 10 or 11 years to pay back that cost, according to Dathatri. Systems that use solar to provide just hot water for a home cost less and recoup the cost in four or five years, he says.

Dathatri has opted to have both kinds of systems in his Farmingdale home. With a small electric system, his LIPA bill is down to $50 a month, and he spends about $80 a month on natural gas for heat and hot water.

To supply virtually all of the typical home's electric needs, a homeowner would require enough solar cells to power a 6-kilowatt system. The cost: about $48,000. LIPA offers a rebate program which at current rates would pay $22,500 toward the system. Federal and state tax credits would pay for another $7,000, leaving the homeowner's bottom line at $18,500.

So installing a solar system is a long-term investment. One proponent, Gordian Raacke, director of the nonprofit Renewable Energy Long Island, argues for it this way: "You've got two choices. You can take your money and send it to LIPA every month, or you can take that money and invest it in your own rooftop power plant and get equity."

Once the system is paid off, your electric power is essentially free. "The sun is a very reliable power source," he says. "It's not expected to go away anytime soon."

Raacke thinks Long Island could still hit the goal of 10,000 solar roofs by 2010 - if LIPA ramps up its solar program and homeowners can get financing as easily as they can get a loan for a new car.

LIPA's new chief executive, Kevin Law, says the goal won't be met. "I'm supportive of our Solar Pioneer program and I'd love to be able to do more, but the unfortunate thing is that it's not a whole lot of power saved at the end of the day," he says. "Until it becomes a little more attractive financially with additional federal and state incentives, I'm not sure how much more participation we're going to get."

Yet, from his office on the fourth floor of the Omni building in Uniondale, Law does see a stronger future for solar power on Long Island.

"I'm looking out the window at the Coliseum, the two EAB Plazas, the Marriott hotel, Nassau County Medical Center - big, wide-open roofs with not a tree to be found. With photovoltaic cells on their roofs, we could get a nice little addition to our grid," Law says. "The question will be, What types of rebates and incentives could we offer them to do it?"

There's a catch: Homeowners with solar electric systems can get the thrill of seeing their electric meters spinning backward when the sun is shining, meaning they can earn credit that erases all or part of their power cost. But owners of commercial buildings don't have the right to this payback, known as "net metering."

Law wants to examine whether LIPA can offer commercial net metering on its own, even without passage of a law - stalled so far - to do it statewide.

Stony Brook University's new Advanced Energy Research Center is also pushing for large companies and building owners to go solar. Jim Smith, assistant vice president for economic development at Stony Brook, points out that the most expensive form of energy on Long Island comes from gas turbines that kick in to meet the peak summer electric demand, which comes when high temperatures strain air-conditioning systems. That's also when the sun is shining brightly.

Smith is lining up companies that would be willing to blanket their roofs with solar cells. He says he has five chief executives on board and plans to approach solar-cell manufacturers to try to get a discount on what would be a very large buy. The executives, he says, "are not just doing it for the dollar savings, it's really a statement ... they want to move in an environmental way, a green way."

While Law, Smith and others push for sweeping policy changes, Dathatri is continuing the training of solar installers, with his next full-week workshop slated for Dec. 17-21. By the end of the workshop, the participants put together a small solar system and test it to make sure it works safely and effectively.

When the workshops began five years ago they were subsidized by LIPA and a federal grant and cost $100; now they cost $500, but Dathatri says the college just breaks even on the sessions.

"The interest has increased tremendously," he says. "This technology along with wind and geothermal is the right answer to the energy needs of Long Island."

It's not the whole answer, though. If you ask Dathatri what's the biggest way you could save energy right now, the answer would be simple and cheap: replacing your old light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.Title: Distinguished service professor and director, Solar Energy Center, Farmingdale State College

YELLESHPUR DATHATRI, 59

BACKGROUND

Born: Mandya, India (about 37 miles from Bangalore)

Education: bachelor's and master's degrees, Bangalore University; master's from Stony Brook University. Licensed as a professional engineer.

Came to the United States: 1982, sponsored by his brother, a medical doctor

First job here: Worked for two years for BK Instruments, a defense contractor in Hauppauge. Laid off when the company lost a contract, then rehired a week later when it got new business. "This gave me a shock," he says, prompting him to take a teaching job at Farmingdale.

Family: Wife, Geetha, is a caseworker for the Suffolk County social services department. Two children in California: a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University and an education instructor at Yosemite National Park.