PV Photovoltaic solar: March 2008 Archives

Southern California Edison will install 250 megawatts of solar panels on 65 million square feet of roofs - that’s two square miles - of Southern California commercial buildings at a cost of $875 million. That project will be the nation’s largest solar cell installation.

Enough solar to power 162,000 homes.

In the initial phase of the program, SoCal Edison will lease 607,000 square feet of roof space at ProLogis’ Kaiser Distribution Park in Fontana, California. The area will be used to install and maintain solar panels with the potential to generate enough electricity to power 1,426 households for one year.

At the conclusion of the start-up phase, which will include five to 10 additional installations and is expected to be completed by the end of 2008, the utility will launch its full renewable energy project, aiming to complete 50 megawatts of solar panel installations each year for a total of 250 MW. Each individual installation is expected to comprise one to two megawatts.

“I urge others to follow in their footsteps,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “If commercial buildings statewide partnered with utilities to put this solar technology on their rooftops, it would set off a huge wave of renewable energy growth.”

SCE hopes to have the first solar rooftops in service by August. The company says it will install at the rate of one megawatt a week.

The program would give a big boost to California’s Million Solar Roofs program and help SCE meet a state requirement to get 20 percent of its energy from renewables by 2010.

Financing Solar Installations

Environmental Leader reported that solar companies are becoming financial intermediaries, leading companies to install solar power that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it.

Using a “power-purchase agreement” model, many solar power companies take on the cost of installing solar panels on customers’ roofs. In return, customers pay the solar power company for the panels’ output, generally at a lower rate than they would otherwise pay.

The power purchase model is also attracting bankers - Morgan Stanley, G.E. Energy Financial Services, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and MMA Renewable Ventures have all arranged financing for recent solar energy projects.

Besides the financing, state incentives and a federal investment tax credit (worth up to 30 cents on the dollar) are also driving adoption.

Technology is a hungry beast -- especially hot sectors like energy. The more money involved -- the faster the innovation cycle. Life cycles are short and companies must continually re-engineer themselves to leapfrog over their own solutions before the competition beats them to it.

Photovoltaic solar is now the technology undergoing that re-engineering phase. From crystalline solar modules that relay on large quantities of silicon to thin-film solar that reduces reliance on that natural material in short supply...and being replaced by quicker, easier, more economical use of labor and raw materials.

A coming glut in solar modules will turn out the lights at some of today's solar players, altering the industry landscape by 2010, says Lux Research.

The study, titled “Solar State of the Market Q1 2008: The End of the Beginning,” says solar industry revenue will continue its brisk advance from $21.2 billion in 2007 to $70.9 billion in 2012. But that advance will mask dislocations within the industry as companies unable to make the transition from crystalline solar modules to newer thin-film technologies see their market evaporate.

SOURCE: redherring.com