ALTERNATIVE POWER DEMAND

If doubters in Washington and elsewhere have been waiting for evidence that alternative sources of electricity work and are increasingly popular, they should look to the marketplace. A proposed wind farm in Aroos-took County has been slowed down because it can’t get the turbines it needs because they are so much in demand. Now, solar system installers report they can’t get enough solar panels for all the customers who want them.

The energy bill signed by the president recently will help a little by providing more than $3 billion in incentives for renewable energy over the next 10 years, including up to $2,000 in tax credits for homeowners who install solar equipment and tax breaks for wind power companies. The bill, however, gives several times as much in subsidies to traditional, and more polluting, fuels such as coal, oil and gas.

A provision, passed by the Senate, that required 10 percent of the nation’s electricity come from renewable sources, such as solar and wind power, by 2020, was stripped from the final bill.

Building on the subsidies from Washington, it is now up to the market to drive changes in the U.S. energy mix. There is good evidence that this is already happening.

Daryl DeJoy owns a solar installation company in Penobscot. He started his business in 1988 and for years it remained a part-time vocation. He could get plenty of solar panels, but customers were scarce. That changed in 1999 when people worried about the reliability of conventional power sources as the world prepared for major computer malfunctions on Jan. 1, 2000. The dire predictions about massive blackouts and system failures on Y2K didn’t materialize, but that didn’t deter Mr. DeJoy’s customers. He is now telling people he may be able to install a system for them next spring.

The delay is due, in part, to a shortage in solar panels caused by increased demand here, and more notably, abroad. Demand for panels has soared in Germany and Japan, where the governments subsidize solar power consumption. A recent state program to provide rebates and tax incentives for homeowners and businesses that install solar electric and solar hot water systems will spur demand here.

The story is similar for wind power, where turbines were quickly snatched up last year when Congress temporarily extended tax breaks for that industry, leaving Evergreen Wind Power unable to buy turbines for its Mars Hill project. The company aims to install up to 35 wind turbines atop the mountain in central Aroostook County, a project that should get a boost from the energy bill’s extension of the tax credit.

The economics of alternative energy look bright.