The Sunshine Bridge

EE: This is The Sunshine Bridge, a show which highlights the diverse perspectives of Louisianians and the work of those who serve their community. I’m Elizabeth Eads.

Solar is making its way into Louisiana. There are more than a dozen new proposed solar farms, some of which are already under construction. That sounds like a lot all at once but so far, the plan is to only install them on one percent of Louisiana’s farmland.

I wanted to learn more about solar farms, so I decided to check one out for myself. What better place to learn about a solar farm than at a university. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette happens to have one which it uses for research purposes and also to train students on the latest solar technology.

Dr. Terrence Chambers is a professor there and Director of its Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Energy Center. Today, he’s taking me on a tour of ULL’s solar farm. There are rows and rows of panels, about 17 in total. They’re all at a fixed 30 degree tilt to maximize the amount of sunlight they capture. We’re walking along the rows in a gravel-covered space about the size of a grocery store parking lot when we begin to talk about how the efficiency of solar technology is expected to improve in the coming years.

EE: "Do you think we would see people using more solar panels, or do you see the opposite where people use less and less space?"

Dr. Terrence Chambers: "The amount of land area that you need to produce a certain amount of electricity is a function of the efficiency of the module, so the higher the efficiency of the module, the less land you need…or roof space. And so the efficiencies have been going up, up, up over the years, and in the laboratory now(not in production, but in the laboratory)they have efficiencies in the range of 45-46%. What you see in typical production-type solar modules today is about 20%. But you asked what I think is going to happen over the next 10 years. Those higher efficiencies that we see in the laboratory now will make their way into production, and so I think we could potentially see in the next 10 years a 50% increase, if not more, in the efficiency of the modules, which would equate to 50% less land use needed for the same amount of electricity or double the amount of electricity for the same amount of land area."

EE: "Okay, so that kind of affects how people buy in. Because if they were to buy in now, the next time that they do it, it’s going to be less. Like, less solar panels that they’ll have to do. Or if they can’t afford, they can wait out the ten years, and then maybe something better will be there."

Dr. T.C.: "You are absolutely right. The cost of solar over the last decade has dropped by 90%. 90%. And that’s why solar and wind are now the cheapest form of electricity in the United States and in most parts of the world as well. And that’s why there’s a lot of interest in solar. And solar is being built at a tremendous rate all throughout the country. In fact, 2019 was the crossover year where there was more renewable energy installed in 2019 than traditional, fossil fuel-type power plants, and that trend has just grown. I think for this year we’re on track to have it be nearly 2/3 of the new generation will be solar and wind as opposed to natural gas or coal."

EE: "So, I went to um…what was it? It’s in Albuquerque. There’s this Museum of Nuclear Science or something or other, I think. And there’s a little display where you can basically play with the different types of energy and you know, you play with nuclear and oil and gas and solar and wind, and you discover that it’s really kind of complicated. Is that complication becoming less? Because the way I’ve been it so far is okay, it looks like oil and gas are still are just going to be around for awhile because how the heck do you…? Because solar can’t take care of everything, or wind can’t take care of everything. So, will that change?"

Dr. T.C.: "Oil and natural gas will be with us for a very long time. Even if we were to convert 100% of the electrical power production to renewable energy which could include solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal…and some others. But if all of that were….In other words, if all of our electrical power production were 100% renewable, we would still have a large need for fossil fuels for quite a while. Even if we were to convert the entire transportation sector to electric vehicles(so we take away gasoline), there’s still lots of need for oil and natural gas as feedstocks for other products that we use all the time, For example, this helmet’s made out of plastic, which is made out of petroleum products. You know, we’d also have to get rid of all the plastic in our life. Now maybe that would be a good thing too. But there are lots of uses for fossil fuels that are not as easy to replace in the short term as electrical power generation.
This is tempered glass right here." (taps)

EE: "Can I touch it?" (taps)

Dr. T.C.: "You could touch it. Yeah." (taps)

EE: "That’s pretty solid." (taps)

Dr. T.C.: "Yeah, yeah, and then you know, it’s got this aluminum frame. Feel it. I mean, does this feel like that’s going anywhere."

EE: "No, it doesn’t."

Dr. T.C.: "That’s bolted down pretty tight."

EE: "Yeah."

Dr. T.C.: "Now, in terms of the support structure (kicks beam). Look at that (kicks beam)."

EE: "Oh yeah, that’s just a steel beam."

Dr. T.C.: "This is just a steel structure. And look. Louisiana’s good at building steel structures, right? We do that all day long for the offshore industry. Well, one of my points that I’m trying to get the word out there is that there’s opportunity for Louisiana manufacturers to diversify their product line with their existing workers, their existing machines, their existing machine shops. They could be building these types of structures as well, just as easily as they build other types of structures. So, this is a product, a product line that Louisiana industry could easily get into without anybody changing jobs at all."

EE: "Where you got these, do you know that it was somewhere other than Louisiana, and you basically had to? What was the story there?"

Dr. T.C.: "We basically had to source all of the materials from outside of Louisiana because none of it is manufactured here. And in fact, even though we contracted the prime contract was with a Louisiana company, they brought in trained workers to install all of these from out of state. Because we don’t have enough trained workers here in Louisiana to meet that need right now. And that’s part of what I’m trying to do here, is I’m trying to provide not only a facility that will allow us to do state-of-the-art cutting edge research but also workforce development training. And economic development by helping Louisiana industry get into the solar business so that they can be more profitable and make more money."

EE: "Okay, I see. So, there is that question of, you know There’s this thought of, oh okay, well, solar for the construction part of it makes more jobs, but after the construction is done, then really it’s just a couple of people that are running the thing."

Dr. T.C.: "That, that is true. That is true. So, the real benefit of solar is not in the construction jobs. They’re not to be discounted because you know, we go all over the world and build offshore platforms, for example. Right? We go everywhere in the world that needs an offshore platform. We build it for them. And then onshore, we know how to drill and explore, and we do all of these things for the traditional energy industry all over the world. We have our traditional energy products and services that we sell all over the world. There no reason why we can’t be doing exactly the same thing but for renewable products and services as well. We could be doing the engineering here for a solar plant in Africa. Right? I mean, we do that right now for oil wells and that sort of thing. We could do it for solar plants as well…or wind farms. And so, I really do believe that there…. You know, solar right now, because it’s the cheapest, solar and wind, because they’re the cheapest forms of electricity, there is a lot of business being done. Solar energy by itself is a trillion dollar a year global industry. A trillion dollars. And Louisiana is making virtually none of that. Almost none of that money is coming to Louisiana for solar."

EE: "That’s kind of impressive. It sounds like it’s also a question of a learning curve. You know?"

Dr. T.C.: "It is, and it’s a cultural thing too. You know, we do think of ourselves as an oil and gas state, and we’re very good at it, and I don’t think it’s proper to say that that’s bad, and we don’t value that anymore. I don’t think that’s the proper way to approach it. What I think is that what we can say to Louisiana workers is - There’s a whole new product line out here that you could get into this business using your existing workers, your existing machines, your existing fab shop, and your existing engineers…and also for the construction part, which is just a small part. By the way, same thing for oil wells, right? The construction part is a small…when you actually drill the well, that’s a small part of the whole life of a project, right? So, it’s not that we don’t want to have those jobs too. We do. And it’s not just that we want to have them when a solar farm is installed in Louisiana. We do.

You know, if I had my way, every one of these solar farms that gets built in Louisiana would hire Louisiana workers to build it. Okay. They should. But we shouldn’t limit ourselves to only being able to build the solar farms in Louisiana. We gotta be able to build solar farms all over the world. And not just the construction as I say but also the manufacturing of the product.
What I’m trying to help Louisiana businesses understand is that it’s not just the module that represents an opportunity for making money. All of these other pieces, all of the conductors, all the wires, all the structure. You know, actually the biggest part of the expense of this solar farm is not the solar modules, it’s the steel. The steel structure is a huge part of the cost of whole thing. So, and we already know how to build steel structures. Okay. We’re good at it! We just don’t have a Louisiana solar rack manufacturer. But we’ve got really good structural engineers that could design them, and we’ve got really good fab shops that could build them. And we could be building them and selling them all around the world.

If Louisiana industry makes money right now fabricating steel structures, and that’s a profitable business for them, for one industry, why not expand their product offerings and build steel structures for solar plants too? Why not? And you know, and it doesn’t even require that their workers be retrained. You know, the machinist who works in the shop, they give him a blueprint, and a part’s a part. They don’t care (laughs). They don’t care. You give them a blueprint, they can build it. We’ve got really talented workers in Louisiana. Very highly skilled. Very well trained. They could easily apply all those same skills to the renewable energy industry and make their job even more secure than it is now. When all their product lines are dedicated to one industry, if there are cycles in that industry, as there always are, then that creates difficulty during the off times. But if you have a more diversified product offering, then you always have work, and you’re always able to keep your workers on. You don’t have to lay them off.

It’s also very much like computer equipment. How long are you going to wait to buy your computer, right? Because there will always be, 3 years down the road, there’ll always be a computer that you wish you had, right? So, at some point you have to get in the game, and the time to get in the game with solar is when it costs less than traditional fossil fuel power plants, and that’s true. So, for example, it is now cheaper to build a brand new solar power plant than it is to continue to operate a coal plant. And for that reason, coal plants are being shut down all over the country. And you know, the previous administration did the best they could to try to save the coal industry. But the demand for it is dropping because there are alternatives that are less expensive."

EE: "It’s not even a pollution question."

Dr. T.C.: "It’s just economics. And you know, and I think in the end it’s going to be economics that drives the adoption of renewable energy, I think. Public policy does play an important role, but whatever the policy, these kinds of things will continue to happen. So, for example, you know, 2019, when we did the crossover between which type of power plant was installed, and there were more renewables installed than traditional. That didn’t happen because the administration at that time was really pro-solar and pro-wind. It happened because the economics changed. And that’s where we are right now.”

EE: . And we’re watching to see how solar plays out in Louisiana. And now, like me, you have a little more information on how solar farms work. Another thank you to Dr. Terrence Chambers for walking me through ULL’s solar farm and sharing his knowledge.

This is The Sunshine Bridge, a show which presents the diverse perspectives of Louisiana. You can send the show an email at thesunshinebridge@gmail.com. Show music is by Arnav Srivastav. Special thanks and dedication of this show to Cristina. I’m Elizabeth Eads.