Tennessee solar industry continues growth

12/9/2011

Tennessee's solar energy industry is growing, now providing more than 6,400 jobs, but Tennessee needs to capitalize on its advantages to remain a solar leader as neighboring states try to grow their solar sectors, according to a report released by the Tennessee Solar Institute.

The report, "Tennessee's Solar Value Chain: A Workforce Development Needs Assessment," is the first comprehensive study of the state's solar industry released by the institute.

John Sanseverino, director of programs for the institute, said the study identified more than 200 Tennessee organizations involved in the solar industry, including 174 for-profit and 62 nonprofit entities. Thirty-three of those have started since 2008, with 15 setting up shop in 2010. Of these new ventures, 15 are having to expand and 20 have hired new workers in the last few months, Sanseverino said.

"Overall, we have found that the solar industry is putting Tennesseans back to work," he said.

"But if Tennessee does not continue this growth it will lose out, as states like Georgia and North Carolina are aggressively growing their solar programs," Sanseverino said.

Officials with several companies involved in the solar industry also spoke, including Ted Wampler Jr., who explained how Lenoir-City based Wampler's Farm Sausage is taking advantage of solar power.

The report includes feedback from businesses on needs to be addressed if the state's solar industry is to sustain its growth. Among the needs cited are more workforce education, business assistance to young firms and management training in quality management, supplier development and inventory management. Wampler said tax incentives to encourage businesses to make use of solar power systems would also be helpful.

"The need for educational training is constant as building codes and technology are changing rapidly," Sanseverino said.

The institute offers training seminars and programs are available at community colleges for those who want to work in the solar industry, he said.

According to the study, Tennessee had less than 1.3 kilowatts of installed solar photovoltaic capacity in 2008, which was enough to power 20 percent of the energy needs of an average home. By late 2011, capacity had grown to 17 megawatts or enough power to run 1,300 average homes. Tennessee's solar industry is part of a nationwide solar industry that has grown 69 percent in the last year, according to the report.

Wampler said his company, a family run sausage-producing operation since 1937, entered the solar age in 2009 when it installed a 30 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system. Now, it has a hillside with 2,240-panel solar panels producing 500 kilowatts.

Wampler said much of the cost of the $2.4 million project will be taken care of by selling power to the Tennessee Valley Authority through TVA's Generation Partners program, in which customers are paid for renewable power they produce on site.

"For the next several decades we will make Wamplers Farm Sausage more competitive by reducing our power costs and reinvesting that in the business," he said.

"Solar power is both profitable and the right thing to do," Wampler said.

Other teleconference speakers included Faith Johnston, chief financial officer of Piney Flats, Tenn.-based Diversified Power International; Dean Solon, president and CEO of Portland, Tenn.-based Shoals Technology and T.C. Jones Jr., vice president of human resources for Memphis-based Sharp Electronics Corp.

Johnston said Diversified Power began as a garage operation in 1996 making battery chargers for forklifts, golf carts and similar equipment but has branched into making solar panel power systems. It has grown from 26 to 40 employees over the last year.

Shoals Technologies produces components for solar panel systems, averaging 1 million parts a week that are shipped to customers in 15 countries, Solon said. The company started with 22 employees in 2002, has grown to a workforce of about 450 and is ready to expand again, Solon said.

Jones said Sharp Electronics opened in 1979 making television sets and now produces solar panels at a rate of about 3,000 a day. The company entered the solar market in 2003, doubled its number of solar workers in four years and now has 500 employees. Among its customers are the Knoxville Convention Center and Wamplers Farm Sausage, Jones said.

Source: Knoxville News Sentinel