Chris Fish, Vice President of Washington DC based government affairs firm, McAllister & Quinn, speaks about federal and state government incentives for Research & Development conduced by PV manufacturers (throughout the vertical supply chain). Chris leads the technology and renewable energy practice at McAliister and Quinn and has two decades of experience working for numerous Members of Congress as a senior staff person and a Chief of Staff.
In Chris' opinion, clean tech is the attractive sector for government officials. He advises clean tech companies to keep this in mind and tells them that government officials will want to work with them.
There are two groups of government officials that a clean tech company will deal with: programmer managers and elected officials/ political appointees. These two groups will respond to you in very different ways. Program managers will understand your technology and the science behind it, and they will want to review it in great detail. They will focus on reviewing your technology, your roadmaps and your milestones. On the other hand elected officials and political appointees will not understand the technology in the same way as the program manager. You will have to communicate to them in layman's terms. What they will be focused on is both job retention and job creation and enabling US companies to compete in the global market space. These individuals want to grow new industries and technologies within the state.
Key Points When Dealing with Elected Officials:
1. Temper Your Personal Politics. Look at Governor as business partner and investor, not as a politician.
2. Every state wants a clean tech economy, so if you're doing clean tech you're in a good position for money compared to other manufacturers in the state.
3. Job retention vs. Job creation - Job creation is better politically, so if you are creating jobs you are in a better position when trying to impact politicians.
4. Creation of a new industry - government officials like that.
5. Have Realistic Expectations - There is only $117M in DOE stimulus money, and you have to be realistic about how much of that money you can get. For example, if you need $50M, you may not get all of it from government money.
6. You will get more money out of government for building manufacturing facilities than you will for Research & Development
7. Think of Federal Government incentives when looking for assistance with R&D, and think of the State and Local Government incentives when looking for assistance with Manufacturing and Factory building.
8. Federal Incentive RFP Process - www.fbo.gov (clearing house of all the RFPs available through the federal government)
9. Try to target some of these R&D programs, and when possible meet with program managers before you look at an RFP. These RFPs are very cumbersome, and it may be more worth your time to speak with these program managers about your project and see if you have a project that potentially can fit when an RFP actually does become available.
10. Federal Small Business Funding for Tech (Under 500 employees) - SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research Grant) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer Grant) - R&D programs set for every federal agency with an R&D budget. Roughly 2.5% of their budget set aside to fund these programs.
Chris was part of the "Growth Opportunities in the New PV Market: Projects, Finance and Policy" event at the 2009 Intersolar Conference.
This event was filmed by buildaroo.com and can be found on the buildaroo.com website, and it was produced by Greentech Media in partnership with the Prometheus Institute.
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Solar Incentives - Photovoltaicby RosieOnTheHouse523 views
Freedom of choice for an American is choosing to buy the cheaper Chinese made PV with no US Government subsidy and incentives, or buying the more expensive Made in the USA PV, and receive the perks of Government subsidy and incentives with US Tax payers dollars.
waynerlee 1 year ago
When US gov writes a policy to help stimulate American growth, it should be written so more American companies will benefit. While I believe in freedom of choice, our tax dollars should only be used to subsidize the American Photovoltaic industry. When American industries do well, more Americans will benefit. Subsidy for alternative renewable energy should apply to Made in the USA only!
waynerlee 1 year ago
My god, those incentive programs are funded by American taxpayers. Our government has chosen to send our tax dollars to China. What do you think of that? I addition, the PV module have to be transported to from China to the USA. How much CO2 from the transportation gets released into the atmosphere when you have to cross the entire distance of the Pacific Ocean, through the Panama Canal, and up to the East Coast? These crates that arrive are huge and heavy. Extra weight = extra fuel = extra CO2.
waynerlee 1 year ago
Oh, I love how our government incentive programs encourage Americans to go Solar. It's really great for the environment. They are doing such a great job of promoting growth and innovation of the solar industry......in CHINA! I have looked into some of these incentive programs, while good as they are, they don't provide incentives to buy American made PV. Chinese made is cheaper, so if you leave it up the the individual...well, in Germany, 2 out of 3 Germans chose the cheaper Chinese made PV.
waynerlee 1 year ago