President Obama yesterday signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law during a visit to Colorado–a state at the forefront of renewable energy research and production in the U.S.
(See a full breakdown of cleantech provisions in the bill.)
Colorado is home to more than 190 solar energy companies, from manufacturers to installers, and expects to gain 14,000 permanent solar jobs from by 2016.
Before the signing, Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden visited the solar installation at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The 100-kilowatt system, the largest of its kind in Colorado, was financed by no-interest revolving loans from the Partnership for Sustainability, a local non-profit dedicated to supporting solar energy installation.
The president was joined by representatives from the Partnership for Sustainability and Namaste Solar Electric, Inc, which installed the solar panels on the museum’s rooftop.
Namaste Solaris an example of how government policies can create the next generation of small businesses in the U.S. With offices in Denver and Boulder, Namaste has grown from 3 to 60 employees in the last three years and is anticipating growth of 20 to 40% in the next two years.
“This will help empower small businesses around the United States to organize their residents to retrofit homes with energy efficiency and renewable energy devices,” Eriks Brolis, Director of External Affairs for Namaste, said.
Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) President & CEO Rhone Resch said in a statement that the solar energy provisions in the recovery bill will help create 60,000 solar jobs in 2009 alone and a total of 110,000 over the next two years.
“It is fitting that he has decided to sign the bill into law in a state-of-the-art building, powered by solar energy. This building is an example of what is happening throughout the U.S.; small businesses installing cutting-edge solar technology funded by local nonprofit project finance resulting in huge taxpayer benefits," Resch said.
“But this stimulus bill alone won’t sustain the clean energy economy that is our future. We encourage Congress and the Obama Administration to implement long term policies that will make clean solar energy available to every American,” said Resch. “We need policies like a national renewable portfolio standard with specific mandates for solar, investment in our transmission infrastructure and a way to address climate change that gives credit to clean sources like solar and reinvests proceeds to increase solar installation.”
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