Business

Editor: Sharon Li
3 Sep 2008 03:14:33 GMT

DENVER –On an appropriately hot, sunny day at a downtown baseball park, the solar energy industry put on its most prominent event ever at a U.S. political convention.

Around two dozen companies, ranging from solar panel installers to trade groups, showcased the latest technology outside Coors Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies franchise.

The event, dubbed Sunfest by its organizers, represented a push by the alternative energy industries to capitalize on Washington’s interest in pushing for greater use of renewable energy sources. The groups also intend to have a presence next week at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Environmental champion Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., was among the speakers at the Denver event. He told the crowd he rode his bicycle to the event, provoking cheers.

He said renewable energy companies had a far more substantial presence at this year’s convention than in previous years.

“I have been - in three days - to probably 20 different events where people are zeroing in on this,” said Blumenauer, speaking to Dow Jones Newswires after his speech. “It’s on everybody’s lips, it has a strong presence here.”

Rhone A. Resch, the president of Solar Energy Industries Assocation, the industry’s lobby group hosting the event, said that it was essential for Congress to pass a law renewing tax credits for companies investing in alternative energy sources. The bill has been held up in the Senate by Republican lawmakers.

He said that if the credits, which expire at the end of the year, aren’t renewed, the solar industry would shed 39,000 jobs next year.

“If they are extended, I think you are going to see 50% annual growth in the industry next year,” said Resch.

Inside the stadium, even the baseball park seemed to be getting in on the solar energy game. The impressive electronic scoreboard in center field and other smaller scoreboards around the stadium are powered by solar panels located beyond the outfield wall in left field.

At field level, Robert Kennedy Jr., the son of the late presidential candidate and a prominent environmental activist, spoke passionately about the need for the U.S. to embrace new sources of energy.

Kennedy called for sweeping reform of the country’s utility regulation, which he called archaic. He said what was needed was an overhaul similar to the change seen in the telecommunications marketplace enacted by the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

Kennedy said that the companies that control the nation’s energy grid should be obliged to allow alternative energy companies broader access.

Among the companies represented was SunEdison LLC, one of the largest installers of solar panels in North America.

Chris Bradt, a SunEdison team leader with Beltsville, Md., said the industry needed predictability from the renewal energy tax credits being extended.

Alternative energy supplies was the topic of another event earlier Wednesday, up the street from Coors Field, featuring none other than oil baron T. Boone Pickens. Joining him were odd political bedfellows, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope, and John Podesta, chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton.

Pickens spoke about his plan to wean America off foreign oil by investing in natural gas and building the world’s largest wind energy field in Texas.

“I’m totally non partisan,” said Pickens. “This has nothing to do with politics, it’s all about America. We have got to change what we’re doing on energy. We’ve gone 40 years with no plan on energy.”

He said the U.S. was currently spending $700 billion a year on importing foreign oil, and said his plan would cut it by 50% over the next decade.

Pickens said the recent decrease in the price of crude oil was a temporary phenomenon and predicted it could be as high as $200 or $300 in the next two or three years.

Pope endorsed Pickens’ plan, but said it did not go far enough. Money needed to be invested in the development of commercially viable sources of biofuel, Pope said. Congress should break up the monopoly at the pump that oil companies have, and he said that buildings across the U.S. should be retooled to make them more environmentally efficient, he added.

-By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6601; corey.boles@dowjones.com

Provided by Dow Jones