Energy Secretary Chu Announces $112 Million in SunShot Initiative Projects to Advance Solar Photovoltaic Manufacturing Partnerships in U.S.

As part of the SunShot Initiative, U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] Secretary Steven Chu [pictured] yesterday announced the selection of up to $112.5 million in funding over five years, to support the development of advanced solar photovoltaic [PV]-related manufacturing processes throughout the United States.

DOE’s SunShot advanced manufacturing partnerships will help the solar power industry overcome technical barriers and reduce costs for PV installations, help the U.S. regain the lead in the global market for solar technologies, and provide support for clean-energy jobs for years to come.

This program is modeled, in part, on SEMATECH [Semiconductor Manufacturing TECHnology]. Faced with falling U.S. market share for the domestic semiconductor industry from 57 percent in 1982, to 38 percent in 1988, SEMATECH began working with domestic equipment suppliers to improve their capabilities.

As a result of SEMATECH’s work to solve common manufacturing problems by leveraging resources and sharing risks, within 10 years the domestic semiconductor industry had grown by 16 percent. Through this award, SEMATECH will now apply similar ingenuity to helping the U.S. recapture the lead in solar manufacturing.

"Expanding the U.S. solar energy industry is an important part of the Administration's goals to diversify our electricity supply, and rebuild America’s manufacturing base to create jobs now and in the future," said Secretary Chu. "The SunShot Initiative will not only keep the United States at the forefront in solar energy research and development, but will help us win the worldwide race to build a solar manufacturing industry that produces solar systems that are cost-competitive with fossil fuels."

Yesterday’s investments are part of DOE’s SunShot Initiative, which aims to reduce the total costs of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75 percent, so that they are cost-competitive at large scale with other forms of energy without subsidies by the end of the decade. Achieving this goal -- equivalent to approximately $1 a watt, or roughly 6 cents per kilowatt-hour for utility systems -- would allow solar energy systems to be broadly deployed across the country.

By engaging multiple companies across the PV supply chain, the SunShot advanced manufacturing partnerships program intends to have broad impact on the U.S. solar industry:

* Selected projects will create organizations designed to bring PV companies together in a coordinated environment to address common technology needs.

* The facilities established through these projects will provide services, tools and facilities to PV companies and suppliers -- to assist them in developing and demonstrating new technologies, and in making the transition to commercial production.

* The program will also link universities and national labs with PV cell, materials, and equipment suppliers to help speed the rate of innovation through coordinated and focused PV manufacturing development.

The selected industry-focused organizations will strongly leverage industry, state, and local funds, and are expected to achieve financial self-sufficiency after five years.

DOE Funding Fuels Coast-to-Coast Collaborations
Funding was made available for applicants in university and industry. Both topics consider collaborative research models to accelerate manufacturing-related technologies and provide maximum leverage to federal funding.

Following are the selected projects:

* Bay Area PV Consortium [Stanford, Cal.] -- $25 million for University-Focused Development
Bay Area PV Consortium [BAPVC] will fund industry-relevant research and development to impact high-volume PV manufacturing, using a competitive selection process open to all universities.

This project, managed by Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, will develop and test the innovative new materials, device structures, and fabrication processes necessary to achieve cost effective PV modules in high-volume production. The research will advance technologies that reduce manufacturing costs and improve device performance characteristics to help achieve SunShot’s price targets.

An industry board composed of representatives from PV companies will determine the specific topics for research and development to assure close alignment with industry and manufacturing needs.

* SVTC Technologies [San Jose, Cal.] -- $25 million for Industry-Focused Development
SVTC will create a fee-for-service PV manufacturing development facility [MDF] that will enable startups, materials suppliers, and other PV innovators to eliminate a major portion of their upfront capital and operating costs during product development and pilot production. This will potentially accelerate development and time to market by 12 to 15 months.

The MDF will focus on commercialization of silicon PV manufacturing processes and technologies, and aim to reduce the costs and development time for participating PV industry leaders to deliver innovative, emerging technologies from the laboratory to commercial manufacturing lines.

The MDF will support SunShot targets by strengthening and accelerating growth along the PV manufacturing industry’s entire supply chain by reducing the cost, time, and risk associated with commercialization.

* U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium [Albany, N.Y. and Palm Bay, Fla.] – $62.5 million for Industry-Focused Development
Managed by SEMATECH, the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium [PVMC] will coordinate an industry-driven research-and-development initiative to accelerate the development, manufacturing and commercialization of next-generation copper indium gallium selenide [CIGS] thin-film PV manufacturing technologies, driving down the cost and risk of bringing them to the marketplace.

PVMC -- with its major partner, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the State University of New York at Albany -- will establish manufacturing development facilities that PV companies and researchers can use for product prototyping, demonstration, and pilot-scale manufacturing to evaluate and validate CIGS thin-film and PV manufacturing technologies.

PVMC will also work with the University of Central Florida to develop cost-effective, in-line measurement and inspection tools to enable increased PV manufacturing yield.

In addition, PVMC will operate complementary programs to foster new PV technologies and firms, and to develop the U.S. PV workforce. The proposed project will use heavy industry leveraging funds for every $1 of DOE funding.

The SunShot program builds on the legacy of President John F. Kennedy's 1960s "moon shot" goal, which laid out a plan to regain the country's lead in the space race and land a man on the moon. The program will aggressively drive innovations in the ways that solar systems are conceived, designed, manufactured and installed.

For more information and to follow the SunShot Initiative's progress, visit the SunShot Initiative website: http://1.usa.gov/SunShotDOE.

GoodBiz113's Take
DOE's just-announced solar manufacturing partnerships will boost American competitiveness in the global solar energy industry and lower the cost of clean, renewable energy. Further, they'll promote entrepreneurship and generate much-needed jobs.

Chalk it up as yet another win-win-win-win endeavor by the Obama Administration -- one that holds far-reaching potential for decades to come.

SOURCES: NASA, U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy [EERE], Wikipedia
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Bureau of Labor Statistics: U.S. Job Market Improved in December

The unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 9.4 percent in December 2010 -- the lowest in months -- and nonfarm payroll employment increased by 103,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

"From a recent low point in December 2009, payroll employment has risen by 1.1 million -- or an average of 94,000 jobs per month," said BLS Commissioner Keith Hall [pictured], in a statement released early this morning. "In December, employment increased in leisure and hospitality and in health care, but was little changed in other major industries."

To read the complete text of the monthly jobs report, go to: http://bit.ly/DecemberJobs2010.

SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
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President Obama Signs Small Business Jobs Act; Here's What's in It

"I’m thrilled to be here on what is an exciting day," said President Obama as he prepared to sign the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 [H.R. 5297] this afternoon. With small-business owners who will receive tax breaks and better access to credit in the audience, the President explained to everybody why he has fought so long for it:

"Now this is important because small businesses produce most of the new jobs in this country," he noted. "They are the anchors of our Main Streets. They are part of the promise of America: the idea that, if you’ve got a dream and you’re willing to work hard, you can succeed.

"That’s what leads a worker to leave a job to become her own boss. That’s what propels a basement inventor to sell a new product, or an amateur chef to open a restaurant. It’s this promise that has drawn millions to our shores and made our economy the envy of the world."

The bill includes a series of small-business proposals that the President put forth earlier this year, and small businesses will start benefiting from the bill on Day 1. Among the many important provisions in the bill, 12 of the top benefits to small businesses are:

* Extension of Successful SBA Recovery Loan Provisions -- Immediately Supporting Loans to More 1,400 Small Businesses: With funds provided in the bill, SBA will begin funding new Recovery loans within a few days of the President’s signature, starting with the more than 1,400 businesses -- with loans totaling more than $730 million -- that are waiting in the Recovery Loan Queue. In total, the extension of these provisions provides the capacity to support $14 billion in loans to small businesses. The SBA Recovery loan provisions have already supported $30 billion in lending to over 70,000 small businesses.

* More Than Doubling of the Maximum Loan Size for the Largest SBA Programs: The bill also increases the maximum loan size for SBA loan programs which, in the coming weeks, will allow more small businesses to access more credit to allow them to expand and create new jobs. The bill will permanently raise the maximum size for SBA’s two largest loan programs -- increasing the maximum 7[a] and 504 loans from $2 million to $5 million, and the maximum 504 manufacturing-related loan from $4 million to $5.5 million. In addition, it will temporarily increase the maximum loan size for SBA Express loans from $350,000 to $1 million -- providing greater access to working capital loans that small businesses use to purchase new inventory and take on their next order, allowing them to create new jobs.

* A New $30 Billion Small Business Lending Fund: The bill would establish a new $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund which, by providing capital to small banks with incentives to increase small business lending, could support several multiples of that amount in new credit.

* An Initiative to Strengthen Innovative State Small Business Programs -- Supporting Over $15 Billion in Lending: The bill will support at least $15 billion in small-business lending through a new state Small Business Credit Initiative, strengthening state small-business programs that leverage private-sector lenders to extend additional credit -- many of which have been forced to cut back due to budget cuts.

* Eight New Small Business Tax Cuts -- Effective Today, Providing Immediate Incentives to Invest: The President had already signed into law eight small-business tax cuts. Today, he is signing into law another eight new tax cuts that go into effect immediately.

* Zero Taxes on Capital Gains from Key Small Business Investments: Under the Recovery Act, 75 percent of capital gains on key small-business investments this year were excluded from taxes. The Small Business Jobs Act temporarily puts in place for the rest of 2010 a provision called for by the President: elimination of all capital gains taxes on these investments if held for five years. Over one million small businesses are eligible to receive investments this year that, if held for five years or longer, could be completely excluded from any capital gains taxation.

* Extension and Expansion of Small Businesses’ Ability to Immediately Expense Capital Investments: The bill increases for 2010 and 2011 the amount of investments that businesses would be eligible to immediately write off to $500,000, while raising the level of investments at which the write-off phases out to $2 million. Prior to the passage of the bill, the expensing limit would have been $250,000 this year, and only $25,000 next year. This provision means that 4.5 million small businesses and individuals will be able to make new business investments today and know that they will earn a larger break on their taxes for this year.

* Extension of 50% Bonus Depreciation: The bill extends -- as the President proposed in his budget -- a Recovery Act provision for 50 percent "bonus depreciation" through 2010, providing two million businesses, large and small, with the ability to make new investments today and know they can receive a tax cut for this year by accelerating the rate at which they deduct capital expenditures.

* A New Deduction of Health Insurance Costs for Self-Employed: The bill allows two million self-employed to know that, on their taxes for this year, they can get a deduction for the cost of health insurance for themselves and their family members in calculating their self-employment taxes. This provision is estimated to provide over $1.9 billion in tax cuts for these entrepreneurs.

* Tax Relief and Simplification for Cell Phone Deductions: The bill changes rules, so that the use of cell phones can be deducted without burdensome extra documentation -- making it easier for virtually every small business in America to receive deductions that they are entitled to, beginning on their taxes for this year.

* An Increase in the Deduction for Entrepreneurs’ Start-Up Expenses: The bill temporarily increases the amount of start-up expenditures that entrepreneurs can deduct from their taxes for this year from $5,000 to $10,000 [with a phase-out threshold of $60,000 in expenditures], offering an immediate incentive for someone with a new business idea to invest in starting up a new small business today.

* A Five-Year Carryback of General Business Credits: The bill would allow certain small businesses to "carry back" their general business credits to offset five years of taxes -- providing them with a break on their taxes for this year, while also allowing these credits to offset the Alternative Minimum Tax, reducing taxes for these small businesses.

* Limitations on Penalties for Errors in Tax Reporting That Disproportionately Affect Small Business: The bill would change, beginning this year, the penalty for failing to report certain tax transactions from a fixed dollar amount -- which was criticized for imposing a disproportionately large penalty on small businesses in certain circumstances -- to a percentage of the tax benefits from the transaction.

GoodBiz113's Take: After months of stall tactics -- by too many mean-spirited, just-say-no House Republicans who don't want this country to succeed under President Obama's Administration, regardless of how logical its proposed policies are -- the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 is finally in place. Here's to moving forward -- for current and would-be small-business owners and the greater good... Cheers!

SOURCES: Internal Revenue Service, Library of Congress, U.S. Small Business Administration, The White House
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Franken Proposes Bold Economic Solutions for Middle Class, Main Street

DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken today addressed the Humphrey Institute 2008 Candidate Forum at the University of Minnesota. In his remarks, Franken called for bold action to help Minnesota's middle class: cutting taxes on working families; ending giveaways to special interests and companies that outsource; creating jobs by investing in short-term infrastructure projects; and helping small businesses find credit in an uncertain economy.

Franken also reiterated his opposition to the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, describing his concerns with the lack of oversight for the financial-services industry and the failure of Washington to address the housing crisis that sparked the economic downturn.

"We have got to change the way Washington handles the economy," Franken told the audience. "There are too many people there who believe that wealth comes from the top -- that what drives our economy is when a CEO gets a big tax cut and builds, oh, I don't know, a seventh house.

"Well, I guess that does create a few jobs, especially if it's a really fancy house. But I grew up in a middle-class family in St. Louis Park [Minn.]. And I know that it's the middle class that is the engine of prosperity in America. And what drives our economy is when everyone has a good job, and makes a decent wage, and we're building millions of homes.

"So, I believe that if we're going to re-build our economy in the wake of this massive collapse, it's going to start with re-building the middle class. That means stopping the giveaways to the special interests and putting more money in middle-class family budgets. And it means creating and protecting good jobs that offer people a chance to get ahead.

"This bailout was the exclamation point on eight years of economic mismanagement. Now is the time for us to change fundamentally the ways of Washington, so that at least it might, indeed, be the end of the sentence.

"And if we make that change, we'll be alright. We are Americans. We are the country that beat communism and beat fascism, and we can beat this crisis.

"But the people who will get our economy moving again don't work on Wall Street. They work here on Payne Avenue and in every city and town in this country. They own body shops and hair salons, and they sell bicycles and lawnmowers and homemade cookies. And, you know what? They need help. They need it now. And it's time Washington got to work."

SOLUTIONS FOR THE MIDDLE-CLASS ECONOMY: AL FRANKEN'S PLAN TO CREATE JOBS IN MINNESOTA

Al Franken believes that we need fundamental change from the policies that have put our economic security at risk. But the best way to emerge from the current economic downturn is by creating and protecting middle-class jobs here in Minnesota.

A Lifeline for Minnesota Small Businesses
Minnesota's small businesses -- which create four out of every five jobs in our state -- are paying the price for the mess on Wall Street. They are finding it harder and harder to obtain the credit they need to cover start-up costs, expand their operations, or hire new employees. To help them, Al Franken will work to unfreeze the credit market.

* Expand the Small Business Administration's Loan Guaranty Program by $1 billion, and make another $4 billion available for direct loans to small businesses.

* Simplify the loan approval process and eliminate fees for lenders and borrowers, and expand the network of lenders to increase liquidity and help small businesses get better loan rates.

Create Jobs by Investing in Infrastructure
According to the Department of Transportation, each $1 billion invested in transportation development creates over 47,500 jobs and over $1.3 billion in worker income -- and up to $6 billion in additional gross domestic product. Right now, there are projects ready to be started -- and Minnesotans ready to do this important work.

* Create nearly 150,000 jobs by investing $2 billion to pay for deferred infrastructure repair projects, and another $1 billion for capital costs of facilities and equipment needed to improve multi-modal transportation options like the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.

An Apollo Program to Create Green Jobs
Our energy crisis could be a huge opportunity for Minnesota. With an Apollo program for renewable energy and energy efficiency, we can end our dependence on foreign oil, make our nation more secure, improve our environment -- and create "green" jobs by making Minnesota the epicenter and the engine of a new energy economy.

* Invest in research and development into new and existing renewable energy technologies: wind, solar, biofuels, carbon sequestration, and more.

* Support U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar's work to make increased availability and use of rail -- light rail, commuter rail, inter-city passenger rail -- a reality.

* Work with entrepreneurs in Minnesota to support energy-efficient technologies, such as windows and other "green building" initiatives.

End Tax Breaks for Companies That Ship Jobs Overseas
We've lost over 600,000 jobs in America just this year. Now, Minnesota's unemployment rate is the highest it's been in 22 years -- with 170,000 people unable to find work. Part of the problem is that we've seen our tax code changed to encourage companies to ship American jobs overseas. Al Franken will work to reverse that.

* Strip companies of the nearly $40 billion in tax breaks they received to ship American jobs overseas, and use that money to promote domestic manufacturing.

* Support worker re-training programs that help those whose jobs have been lost.

GoodBiz113's take: Al Franken's proposed solutions are bold -- and very much needed in order to help get small businesses, and our nation, moving again. Kudos to Al Franken for having the vision and guts to conceive and articulate such a far-reaching strategy.

SOURCE: Al Franken for U.S. Senate, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Small Business Administration
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