TOM DYER, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, Government Affairs for Kyocera Solar, Inc., has devoted his 40-year career to developing and commercializing solar photovoltaic (PV) energy systems, and has quite a tale to tell.
Tom got into solar by happy accident in 1972, when he joined Spectrolab, a company that developed solar technologies for the U.S. space program: “In the early 1970s, the U.S. energy crisis was so bad that cars lined up at gas stations every other day, depending on whether their license plates were even- or odd-numbered,” he recalled. “My boss wanted to start a terrestrial solar cell program for use ‘here on Earth,’ and I was intrigued by the idea.” As project manager, Tom contributed to solar industry standards relating to cell fabrication, module packaging, system specification and sizing.
There were challenges in designing solar modules for terrestrial vs. space use. When developing solar technology, NASA emphasized the weight of the equipment, valuing watts per pound, but on Earth dollars per watt was — and still is — the name of the game. Thus began the challenge of lowering the cost of solar cells. “We also had to repackage solar cells so they would last for years despite the contaminants and moisture on Earth,” Tom stated. “This was imperative in making solar a viable energy source.”
The first practical application for solar in the U.S. was on lighted buoys in the Gulf of Mexico. They ran on batteries, which had to be periodically changed — a labor-intensive process. Solar power recharged the batteries, thus producing a continuously operating system.
From that small start, solar evolved. The industry began in remote places where there was no power grid, the wattage requirement was low, and solar was more economical than a generator or running electric lines. Mountaintop radio repeater stations, transmission equipment in rural locations, power for remote villages, water pumps, vaccine refrigeration, telemetering — anywhere there was no power grid, solar could provide the solution.
In 1977, Tom joined the solar energy subsidiary of a major petroleum company, managing solar applications engineering, manufacturing, and business development. From 1981-85 he worked in Japan, where he saw first-hand what then-competitor Kyocera was doing to revolutionize the solar industry. Dr. Inamori had started Kyocera’s solar division in 1975.
“We knew Kyocera was building the Sakura Solar Energy Center in Narita to demonstrate stand-alone solar power systems, but Japan was also one of the first countries to try grid-connected solar,” Tom said. “Dr. Inamori and others helped the Japanese government and utilities embrace solar by putting the right legislation and programs in place.”
Japan’s Sunshine Project became the gold standard in solar programs, and other countries began to emulate the success they experienced with grid-connected projects.
In 1996, Tom began working with Photocomm Inc., which soon became Golden Genesis Corp., and was acquired by Kyocera in 1999.
By the year 2000, Kyocera Solar, Inc.’s strategy began to change from supporting remote power applications to offering grid-tie systems. The U.S. grid-tie market was developed by replicating what was happening in countries such as Japan.
In the 12 years since, Tom has witnessed the solar market in the U.S. grow from remote power applications to 200MW+ utility-scale applications. What does he see in the future for the solar industry? “In the wake of the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami disaster, Japan is abandoning nuclear power and reinvigorating its solar industry, which will be a big boon to the industry,” Tom said. Kyocera recently announced plans to build a 70MW solar plant in Japan with two other companies, and the country has a large feed-in-tariff plan set to start this July.
The U.S. has been slow to deploy solar compared to Japan and Germany, two nations which are smaller and get less sunshine, yet install up to four times more solar capacity annually than the U.S. Why? “It’s partly because we use tax breaks to incentivize solar power in the U.S.” Both Japan and Germany use feed-in-tariff systems, which reward the performance of a solar electric system and put the responsibility for its operation and output on the individual system owner. In the U.S., the tax incentive system doesn’t reward the performance of a system, but rather the cost of the system. “Not everyone can take advantage of tax incentives, and it makes no sense to pay a higher incentive for a system that costs more,” he explained. “The objective is to lower the costs.
“The U.S. needs a system — like a feed-in-tariff — that rewards performance, so we can install systems that will produce optimum power for decades, as opposed to incentivizing financial investment and de-emphasizing power production,” he said. “Already, in Hawaii and parts of California, it’s as economical to install solar as it is to buy power from the grid, which we call grid parity,” Tom stated. As the cost of solar comes down and the cost of fossil fuels continues to rise, grid parity will be achieved in more and more places.
Tom is a man with a dream: “Imagine if the entire world was all interconnected on one giant grid. Wherever the sun is shining — and it’s always shining somewhere on Earth — power would be produced, feeding the entire worldwide grid and crossing national boundaries. We would all depend on our one, free, clean energy source, the sun.
“I ended up in the solar business by accident, but it’s been one heck of a great experience,” Tom said. “I saw the industry start out on a very small scale — on a boat checking buoys in the Gulf — and today, I’m seeing systems all around the world where people use solar power in their daily lives. It’s been an interesting career; it’s changed a lot in 40 years.” The sun is the largest source of power available to us. Eventually, Earth’s demand will grow to the point where there’s only one way to feed the entire planet with electricity. The sun is the answer. Kyocera is dedicated to doing the right thing. We’ve been in the solar business for 37 years, and we have a key role to play in the industry,” Tom said. “Dr. Inamori saw this inevitability long ago — he is a genius. He envisioned the benefits of solar and managed to make it happen in Japan and around the world. We are his legacy; Kyocera must continue to lead in that regard.”
Tom retired on May 31, 2012. He’s proud to have contributed to Kyocera’s efforts to lead the solar industry and his allegiance is strong: “I’m rooting for Kyocera; I know our company will continue to achieve great things.”
