The wind and solar industries in America \u201cwere dead in the fourth quarter,\u201d\u009d said John Woolard, chief executive of BrightSource Energy, which builds and operates cutting-edge solar-thermal plants in the Mojave Desert. Almost five gigawatts of new solar-thermal projects \u201d\u201d the equivalent of five big nuclear plants \u201d\u201d at various stages of permitting were being held up because of a lack of financing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of these projects will now go ahead,\u201d\u009d said Woolard. \u201cYou are talking about thousands of jobs … We really got something right in this legislation.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
These jobs will be in engineering, constructing and operating huge solar systems and wind farms and manufacturing new photovoltaics. Together they will drive innovation in all these areas \u201d\u201d and move wind and solar technology down the cost-volume learning curve so they can compete against fossil fuels and become export industries at the \u201cChinIndia price,\u201d\u009d that is the price at which they can scale in China and India.<\/p>\n
That is how taxpayer money should be used to stimulate: limited financing, for a limited time, targeted on an industry bristling with new technology start-ups that, with a little push from Uncle Sam, won\u2019t just survive this crisis but help us thrive when it is over. We need, and the world needs, an America that is thriving not just surviving.<\/p>\n