Page 16 RAIN Novernber/December 1984 moved out and venture capit~l has moved in," says Tyrone Braswell, an organizer of the original Sun Day in 1978 and one of the few remaining full-time solar activists. A multibillion-dollar industry has solarized .millions of homes in the last ten years. The new technologieswind, photovoltaics, small-scale hydro, and geothermal-have contributed almost 3,000 megawatts, the equivalent of six medium-sized nuclear power plants, to the-nation's electricity grid. According to most projections, the renewable energy business will continue to enjoy a period of rapid expansion. The young industry is evolving along the lines of others before it: Hundreds of small enterprises are competing for rn.arkets, and a rapid shakeout is likely to leave a few dominant companies. In such areas as solar-panel production, where barriers to entry are relatively low, small firms might continue to enter the field, and competition could flourish. However, in such highly capital-intensive sectors as photovoltaics, the participation of small business may already be a thing of the past. In' 1983, the top four concerns-three of which are owned by major oil com- · panies-"produced more than 90% of the photovoltaic generators in the United States, up from 78% just a year before. America is going solar, but not in the way many people had dreamed about. The solar future will undoubtedly be cleaner and safer as nuclear power and fossil fuel sources are gradually displaced. But the spread of solar energy will not, it seems, bring the dawn of a new day. Few s9lar activists-thought much about American industry and the role it would play in bringing solar power to the people; most held business responsible for problems that solar might remedy. · Six years ago,-on the original Sun Day, thousands turned out at rallies across the nation to hear about a clean, benign energy technology that would lead the transition to a "small-is-beautiful" society. Because it would be developed and controlled by consumers, renewable ertergy would break the power of the utilities, help democratize the economy, and alleviate poverty. Solar advocacy attracted a broad array of reformers. Antipoverty vyorkers saw in solar power a tool for sparking econ'omic development in low-income communities. Radicals hoped to build cooperatives to promote the new technology. And environmentalists looked forward to a safe alternative to nuclear reac tors ~ But few solar activists thought much about American industry and the role it would play in bringing solar · power to the people; most were, in fact, profoundly distrustful of business, holding it responsible for many of the problems that solar might remedy. After' Sun Day, a group of solar pioneers went to Washington, DC, and formed the Solar Lobby and its affiliate organization, the Center for Renewable Resources. "There was a lot of enthusiasm about worker-owned bu_sinesses and cooperatives during the first couple of years," says Larry Shifley, an organizer for the Center from its inception. "At our national meeting in Beulder in 1979, there was as much interest in co-ops as any other single issue." The Center and Lobby supported a five-member networking project designed to support the developme1i t of grassroots organizations that would become effective participants in local politics. "We wanted to help groups that would raise important social issues, such as how utilities_should be involved in solar and how low-incc:m1e people could benefit from solar as it was developed," Shirley recaps. On the legislative side, the Was!i.ington lobbyists pressed successfully for the 'establishment of a solar bank that would provide interest subsidies and grants for energy projec.ts in low-income areas. They also 'devoted much time to legislation promoting local energy planning. The idea was to encourage communities to il).tegrate their energy planning into other economic development goals. These emphases frustrated solar business executives, who wanted to see the iDdu'stry grow as quickly as possible. "The leaders of the industry were outside initially and wanted to get in," Shirley explains. "There were many things they needed help on, and they saw Sun Day and the politics associated with it as diverting from the real i ss~·es, from the needs of developing thefr industry." The industry did have several supporters on Solar Lobby's board of directors, however, and they began tci push for a more pro-business, less radical orientation. "From the beginning there were business representatives who wanted to make the Lobby a sort of trade assbciation," says Richard Munson, coordinator of the Solar Lobby from its founding until 1982. Bitter infighting over how to allocate the group's limited resources generated tensions. The industry representatives saw solar power as a profitable product; the activists saw' it as a means to another end-social 'ch'ange. Industry pressure and Washington's climate of compromise pushed the Lobby away from its progressive roots, a process that was accelerated by the electio_n of Ronald Reagan. "As soon as Reagan was elected, there was a switch-over to an entirely defensive strategy," says Shirley. "We just wanted to save what we had achieved." So the Lobby closed ranks with the solar industry. ''When we would get together to discuss legislative strategy, the Lobby was the primary representative of the citizen side at a table with 15,different industry reps," Shirley says. ':We were outnumbered, and be-
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