THE GOOD NEWS FROM OH EIGHT…

2008 was a great year for New Energy. A hard year but a great year. It is perhaps a bit of ostriching (head in the sand) to look at the year and see good news when year-end events were so hard but it is important to see and celebrate the change that is possible.

NewEnergyNews did not report last week’s 10 Biggest Cleantech Disappointments of 2008 from CNNMoney but this week CNNMoney brought the good news, New Energy’s 2008 big wins:

The New Energy tax credits finally passed. The U.S. elected a President who gets it and can say it in a way that might bring the recalcitrant minority along. When there was money, there was investment. Solar, wind and battery-powered cars grew and matured. Utilities and high-tech got the New Energy fever. Powerful voices emerged.

CNNMoney chronicled mainly U.S. New Energy wins, but the year was just as big internationally. China scaled new heights of installed capacity in wind and solar production capacity and India got in the game. Europe approved plans for a continent-wide transmission system and vigorously worked the great cap-and-trade system debate. New Energy built inroads into developing regions.

The world and the nation are on the brink of an exciting transition. Though much remains to be done and it will be harder in a credit-constrained economy, the New Energy economy and the infrastructure of the 21st century are emerging.

2008 was another great year for the wind power industry. (click to enlarge)

The 10 Biggest Cleantech Victories of 2008
Katie Fehrenbacher, December 29, 2008 (CNNMoney)

WHO
President-elect Barack Obama; Al Gore; T. Boone Pickens; Andy Grove, Intel; Eric Schmidt, Google; Shai Agassi, Better Place; First Solar

WHAT
New Energy had a great year.

Solar power plants are being developed. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- 2008: Record venture investment in New Energy. $2.6 billion invested in 158 companies worldwide in the third quarter, up 37% from 3Q 2007 and up 17% on 2Q 2008.
- First three quarters, 2008: More New Energy investment than all of 2007.
- 8 years: The solar energy industry’s long-term investment tax credits offers stability to investors.
- 2009: The wind industry will press for long-term extension of its production tax credit.
- 2009 & 2010: PHEVs and EVs will be for sale.

WHERE
Better Place placed its electric car dream in Israel, Denmark, Australia, the San Francisco Bay metro region, Hawaii and japan.

WHY
- The 10 wins: (1) The New Energy tax credits passed. (2) Barack Obama and his New Energy for America plan won. (3) Investment in New Energy again broke records. (4) New solar power plants got started. (5) First Solar announced it is now producing and selling its thin film at rates that constitute grid parity. (6) Established mega-sized high-tech companies like Google and Intel bought into New Energy in a big way. (7) Shai Agassi’s ambitious Better Place electric car plan expanded. (8) Wind power again broke installed capacity records. (9) Major figures (Al Gore, Boone Pickens, Andy Grove, Eric Schmidt) got behind New Energy with big plans. (10) PHEVs and EVs are on their way to showrooms.
- Obama has pledged $150 billion in New Energy investment over the net 10 years.
- Examples of solar power plant development: PG&E’s 800 megawatt power purchase agreement with SunPower and OptiSolar, PG&E’s 900 megawatt deal with BrightSource.
- First Solar’s grid parity was declared by Pacific Crest financial analyst Mark Bachman.
- Google was the 2nd biggest investor in New Energy during 3Q 2008. Intel is getting into energy storage. IBM, HP and Sun are buying into efficiency.
- U.S. windpower broke the 20,000-megawatt level of installed capacity and became the world leader.
- Gore, Pickens, Grove and Schmidt pushed for the development of a national energy policy that Mr. Obama will take to Washington.
- The 10 Disappointments: (1) Electric car maker Tesla stumbled. (2) Miracle battery maker EEStor didn’t bring out its game changing battery. (3) Tight credit forced Boone Pickens to slow his wind development. (4) The California Public Utilities Commission refused a Finavera Renewables wave energy project because the technology isn’t there yet. (5) ACCCE, the “clean” coal lobby, spent a lot of money and got some traction. (6) Corn ethanol got more subsidies. (7) GM, Bob Lutz and their PHEV Chevy Volt are still struggling. (8) UK offshore wind growth is fighting tight credit. (9) Stopping climate change may require a lot more R&D and new ideas. (10) The Bush administration failed again.

Better Place is growing fast, expanded into Japan since this chart and will start operations in Israel this year. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- CNNMoney: “A victory in 2008 for President-elect Barack Obama promises a future in which the U.S. turns it attention to fighting climate change once and for all…”
- CNNMoney: “With the renewable portfolio standards in states like California calling for a certain percentage of electricity to come from clean power, utilities became a lot more aggressive on doing deals with solar companies to get solar facilities built…”
- CNNMoney: “2008 planted the seeds of an electric vehicle trend that will emerge more significantly in 2009 and 2010.”