Oct 24 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Thomas Content Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The City of Milwaukee will seek to expand training for solar panel installers and boost consumer awareness about solar power under a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Milwaukee will receive $200,000 in direct and technical assistance after it was named one of 25 Solar America cities earlier this year, said Tom Kimbis of the Energy Department. Madison is also a Solar America City.

With the award, the city on Thursday unveiled the Milwaukee Shines initiative, said Ann Beier, director of the city's Office of Sustainability.

A key focus of the program will be education "and myth-busting that has to happen with solar in Milwaukee," she said during the fourth annual Solar Decade conference Thursday at the Midwest Airlines Center.

There's a common misconception that Wisconsin winters and solar power don't go well together, even though experts believe that Wisconsin's solar resource is better than that of Germany, the world's leading solar power producer, she said.

The initiative will try to assist homeowners through the maze of incentives, from rebates through the state Focus on Energy program to a federal tax credit for solar power, she said. Also being studied, Beier said, is the potential of attracting a solar panel or component manufacturer to the area.

The training effort will be aided by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, a nonprofit group based in north-central Wisconsin that provides training for people interested in pursuing careers in renewable energy.

At its headquarters in Custer, home to a popular renewable energy fair each June, the association has a special roof on one of its buildings that was designed to help with solar-panel installation training, said Zara Scharf, site assessor coordinator with the energy association. The group is now exploring the possibility of building a similar "training roof" in the Milwaukee area, she said.

The solar industry has seen growth of 44% a year in recent years, and is projected to hit $25 billion in sales worldwide last year, said Lisa Frantzis of Navigant Consulting. Much of that growth has come in Europe, where countries such as Germany and Spain have been aggressive in investing in solar to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Falling oil prices and the current economic crisis could pose a challenge for the industry's growth, said Niels Wolter, director of solar energy with the state Focus on Energy program.

"But in hard times, money goes to quality," he said, and saving on energy costs could prompt people to invest in solar power, thanks to expanded tax credits recently adopted by Congress.

Navigant consultants are forecasting that solar-sector growth will continue to soar at double-digit rates. Rising electricity prices, renewable-energy mandates enacted in Wisconsin and 26 other states, and the federal tax credits are resulting in investment by venture capital and private equity firms, Frantzis said.

"You're going to see Europe's big players wanting to come into this market to capitalize on this market opportunity," she said.

Major corporations are investing heavily in solar power, from financial firms Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo, and oil companies Chevron and BP, to industrial companies like Johnson Controls and GE, she said.

As electricity prices are projected to keep climbing, the extra cost associated with solar power is expected to be erased in the coming years. Prices could be on par with other electricity prices in Wisconsin between 2012 and 2015, she said.

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