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 今日主題：Clean energy-- Let the sun shine  清潔能源--陽光普照大地

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 中英文稿：
Clean energy-- Let the sun shine
清潔能源--陽光普照大地

The future is bright for solar power, even as subsidies are withdrawn
儘管補貼不再，太陽能的未來一片光明

FORTY-FIVE minutes west of Las Vegas, dejected sinners may encounter a sight to lift their sunken hearts: a sea of 347,000 mirrors, reflecting the rays of the desert sun on to boilers mounted on three 460-foot towers. The Ivanpah solar-thermal plant (pictured), which opened in mid-February, is the largest of its kind in the world. Fully ramped up, it will deliver around 377 megawatts (MW) of power to 140,000 homes in southern California. Its backers compare it to the nearby Hoover Dam; an astronaut claims to have spotted it from the international space station. It is a striking sight, even if the heat from its heliostats has roasted dozens of unfortunate birds alive.
距拉斯維加斯45分的地方，心情沮喪的罪人會看到一幅能照亮他們沉沒的心的奇觀—34.7萬面鏡子組成的海洋反射著沙漠太陽的光至三個高達460英尺的塔上的熱水器。于二月中旬開始運行的伊凡帕太陽能熱電廠（如圖所示）是目前世界上最大的太陽能熱電廠。開足馬力，該電廠能為加利福尼亞南部14萬居民提供377兆瓦的電力。其支持者將它比作附近美國最高的水壩胡弗水壩。甚至有宇航員說他能在國際空間站找到這個太陽能熱電站。儘管電站的定日鏡反射的熱量硬是將數十隻活生生的飛鳥烤熟了，這依然是一道令人歎為觀止的風景。

Solar power in America is growing rapidly, albeit from a small base (see chart). Last year it represented 29% of new electricity capacity, behind only natural gas at 46%. Solar output has more than doubled during Barack Obama's time in office; GTM, a research firm, reckons it will grow another 26% in 2014. The Department of Energy wants solar to provide 27% of America's electricity by 2050, up from less than 1% today.
雖然太陽能在美國起點低（見下面圖表），但發展迅捷。去年太陽能發電占新增電力的29%，僅落後於占46%的天然氣發電量。既奧巴馬上任以來，太陽能的產出翻了不止一番。全球決策大本營這個調查機構稱太陽能發電在2014年將新增26%。美國能源署希望太陽能發電能夠由目前提供的不足1%的電力發展到能夠在2050年前提供美國27%的電力。

Though dazzling, Ivanpah and large plants like it will not generate much of this growth. The federal loan guarantees that allowed their creation have expired. More important are photovoltaic solar cells, a rival technology that converts sunlight directly to electricity. Their cost has fallen so quickly that in many places retail electricity customers are saving money by placing panels on top of their houses or businesses; 200,000 have done so in the past two years. And there is a lot of room to grow. “There's no market saturation in any state; not even close,” says Lyndon Rive of SolarCity, a solar-installation firm. Even David Crane, the boss of NRG, co-owner of Ivanpah, says that photovoltaic installations are the future.
儘管目前風頭正盛，伊凡帕以及像它一樣的大公司卻不能從這樣的增長中獲益太多。因為作為用於保障他們創造的聯邦貸款到期了。更重要的是光電太陽能電池，它是一種關鍵的技術能直接將太陽光轉化成電力。由於該產品的價格急速下跌，許多地方的零售電力的客戶將太陽能板安裝在他們的屋頂或廠房房頂來發電來節省開支。過去的兩年已經有20萬人這麼做了，並且其增長的空間很大。來自太陽城一家太陽能設備安裝公司的 Lyndon Rive稱“目前不管在哪個州，都沒有市場達到飽和，甚至是接近飽和。”甚至作為伊凡帕共有者的NRG能源電力的 David Crane也聲稱未來是光伏發電裝置的天下。

Last year sun-soaked California accounted for over half of America's new photovoltaic installations. That, say solar fans, shows that the sector can thrive even after it loses its subsidies. (The $2.2 billion California Solar Initiative, which gave cash to homes or firms that went solar, has largely expired.) Solar is also blossoming in unexpected places like Massachusetts and North Carolina.
去年，飽受太陽炙烤的加州，其新增的光伏發電裝置安裝的數量超過整個國家數量的一半。太陽能的支持者稱這表明即便沒有補貼，太陽能發電也會前途無量。（加州太陽能計畫得到22億美元的補助，用於補貼那些使用太陽能的家庭和公司，如今這一補助絕大部分已到期。）此外，在人們想不到的像馬賽諸塞州和北卡羅來納州這樣的地方太陽能發電也如花般綻放。

A bigger test will come in 2017, when the federal government's solar-investment tax credit drops from 30% to 10% (unless Mr Obama can convince Congress otherwise). Still, says Shayle Kann at GTM, this will be no “death knell”; it will simply eliminate some marginal projects. And by then there may be a revival of Ivanpah-style solar-thermal plants, as energy-storage technologies improve and utility firms look to them to provide steady power throughout the day.
更為嚴峻的挑戰將在2017年拉開序幕。那時，聯邦政府的太陽能投資稅收抵免將由現在的30%驟降至10%，除非奧巴馬總統能夠說服國會不這麼做。即便如此，GTM調查機構的Shayle Kann 聲稱，這也不是太陽能 發電的“死亡鐘聲”，而僅僅是終止一些邊際項目。隨後，隨著儲能技術的發展以及公共事業公司採用這一技術為全天提供穩定的電力，像伊凡帕這樣的太陽能熱電站還會再次興盛起來。

Yet even if solar power is a boon to consumers, it threatens some utilities. Energy has traditionally been generated centrally, distributed over power lines and sold to consumers. Distributed solar power—generated from rooftop panels—undermines that model (see article). The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), a trade group, warns that distributed generation could do to energy companies what the internet did to newspapers.
但是，儘管太陽能電力對消費者有利，它卻威脅到其他的公共事業。傳統的能源供應是集中式的，通過電線輸送到用戶家中。分散的太陽能電力是通過人們屋頂的太陽能板發電的，將會顛覆這一傳統模式（見文章）。貿易集團愛迪生電力協會警告稱，分散發電對能源公司的衝擊就如同互聯網對新聞報紙產業的衝擊一樣。

Bet your bottom dollar
賭上所有的身家

Regulations are adapting to this shift: all but seven states have adopted net-metering policies, which credit solar-enabled homes and businesses for the excess energy they feed back into the grid. At least 22 states allow consumers to buy the electricity produced by solar panels that a third party installs on their homes. This lets people take advantage of solar's savings without having to pay the hefty up-front installation costs. In 2013, third-party-owned systems accounted for most solar installations in California, Arizona, Colorado and Massachusetts.
立法正在適應這一轉向：除了7個州以外其他各州都頒佈了電價扣減政策，允許安裝了太陽能的家庭和企業在太陽能自足之後將多餘的電併入電網。至少22個州允許消費者購買協力廠商安裝在他們屋頂的太陽能電池板產生的電。這使得人們不用支付高額的前期安裝費用就能享受到太陽能帶來的實惠。2013年，協力廠商太陽能系統覆蓋了加州、亞利桑那州、科羅拉多州及麻塞諸塞州太陽能安裝業務的幾乎全部的份額。

Some utilities grumble that customers who benefit from net metering escape the costs of maintaining the grid they depend on. Last year Arizona Public Service, the state's biggest electric firm, urged regulators to slash the savings that new solar customers would derive from net metering. After a fierce campaign their call was rejected, though the regulator approved a small solar surcharge. Georgia Power also proposed a fat tariff; it too was defeated.
某些公共事業單位抱怨從電價扣減政策中獲益的消費者逃避用於維護他們賴以為繼的電網的費用。去年，亞利桑那公共服務公司，蓋州最大的電力公司敦促監管者嚴厲批評新增的太陽能電力消費者通過電價扣減政策而得到的儲蓄。經過激烈的爭奪，儘管監管者比准了小額的太陽能額外費，他們的呼聲最終被駁回。佐治亞電力公司也建議要加重賦稅，但也被駁回。

Julia Hamm of the Solar Electric Power Association identifies three ways regulators could help utilities cope with these changes. First, they could demand monthly infrastructure fees from solar users. Second, they could list every component of value separately rather than wrapping the cost of infrastructure maintenance, for instance, into usage charges. Third, they could split energy used and consumed into separate transactions, meaning that a solar customer sells all his energy to a utility before buying what he needs.
美國太陽能電力協會的Julia Hamm 提出三種解決方案幫助公共事業公司面對當前的變化。第一，公共事業公司每月向太陽能使用者收取基礎設施使用費。第二，單獨列出每個元件的價值而不是將基礎設施維護費均攤到電價中。第三，他們可以將使用的能源和消耗的能源分開處理，即太陽能消費者將其生產的電賣給公共電力公司然後再向他們購買他們需要的電。

Yet those last two proposals leave unanswered the question of what rate utilities should pay customers for their power—or more broadly, what the price of solar, with all externalities factored in, ought to be. And more battles loom; California's regulator must make an important decision on net metering this month. Further ahead the growth of distributed solar will pose other threats to the utilities' traditional business model. “Net metering is just the pointy edge of the wedge,” says Adam Browning of Vote Solar, an advocacy group.
然而後面的兩個提議依然沒有解決公共電力公司應該按照什麼樣的比例購買消費者家多餘的電的問題，或者更明確的說，考慮到所有的外部因素，太陽能電的價格應該怎樣確定。這一問題似乎一直都若隱若現。這個月，加州的監管者必須就電價扣減這一問題作出重要的決定。分散的太陽能發電的進一步發展將會對公共電力公司傳統的商業模式構成其他威脅。“電價扣減僅僅只是楔子最尖銳的部分（電價扣減只是利用太陽能問題中最尖銳的問題，還有其他的問題）”擁護太陽能的 Adam Browning 如是說。

Still, while user-generated solar power makes utilities skittish, many have rushed to embrace it on the supply side. In 2013 they installed roughly 4,100MW of solar capacity, up from 2,390MW in 2012. Renewable portfolio standards, which in 30 states force utilities to generate a certain share of their electricity from clean sources, are part of the reason. But so is hard economics: low installation and labour costs, clean power delivery at peak midday hours and a hedge against fuel-price volatility.
儘管用戶產生的太陽能電力讓公共電力公司憤怒，許多人依然會擠著去供應自家發的電。2013年人們安裝的太陽能發電板所發的電量由2012年的2390兆瓦上升到4100兆瓦。可再生能源發電配額制，30個州要求公共電力公司生產一定份額的清潔能源電力是人們蜂擁安裝太陽能電池板的原因之一。對於理性的經濟而言也是如此：安裝費用低，人力資源消耗低，在中午用電高峰期輸送清潔能源以及可以抵禦波動的石油價格。

Many of these gains have already been banked. Photovoltaic modules have become slightly dearer lately; costs will rise further if the Commerce Department heeds protectionist calls by some domestic manufacturers and expands tariffs on imports from China and Taiwan. Yet solar firms are not short of ideas to cut costs elsewhere: third-party financing, for example, or securitising pools of solar leases to reduce financing costs. For makers and users of solar power, the future looks bright.
這些收益都已經存入銀行。近來光伏模組價格稍有上漲。如果商務部注意到國內生產商的貿易保護電話並且加重從中國和臺灣進口光伏模組的關稅，安裝太陽能板的成本將進一步上漲。然而太陽能公司有的是辦法從其他方面削減成本：協力廠商融資，比如說對太陽能租賃的抵押來降低融資的成本。對製造商和用戶而言，太陽能的未來前途璀璨，一片光明。