Photovoltaic Solar Looks to be Arriving in Scale in the U.S.
We have
quite the huge announcement from
Sunpower (SWPR), Optisolar and
PG&E (PCG) after hours - this is a long term game changer if the utilities themselves decide to go solar as opposed to individual and corporations. Sadly our Congress still sits on their hands on the renewable tax credits for alternative energies while the rest of the world moves onward. California is trying to move on, with or without, the rest of the U.S.
Solar is real and not a fad unlike what you are currently seeing on the popular financial TV shows. The questions will be who will be the ultimate winners and how many will there be? (
Jan 3: The Long Term in Solar)
Intel (INTC) is getting in (
Jun 17: Intel Creates a Solar Company Spin Off)
Applied Material (AMAT) is getting in - these are not small start ups guessing on a "maybe" industry. And
Goldman Sachs (GS) is quietly snapping up the land throughout the southwest US desert. Meanwhile the "Fast Traders" and pundits point their nose upward and remind you of the solar fantasy in the 1970s and how this is just a repeat. Nice.
- Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced it has entered into two utility-scale, photovoltaic (PV) solar power contracts for a total of 800 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy. This significant commitment to photovoltaic technology will deliver cumulatively 1.65 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy annually. This would be equivalent to the amount of energy needed to serve approximately 239,000 residential homes each year.
- PG&E entered into an agreement with Topaz Solar Farms LLC, a subsidiary of OptiSolar Inc., for 550 MW of thin-film PV solar power. The utility also signed a contract with High Plains Ranch II, LLC, a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation (Nasdaq: SPWR - News), for 250 MW of high-efficiency PV solar power.
- "These landmark agreements signal the arrival of utility-scale PV solar power that may be cost-competitive with solar thermal and wind energy," said Jack Keenan, chief operating officer and senior vice president for PG&E.
- The 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm project would utilize relatively low-cost, thin-film PV panels designed and manufactured by OptiSolar in Hayward and Sacramento. Located in San Luis Obispo County, California, the project would deliver approximately 1,100,000 megawatt-hours annually of renewable electricity. The project is expected to begin power delivery in 2011 and be fully operational by 2013.
- SunPower's planned 250 MW solar ranch, would be located in San Luis Obispo County's California Valley and will deliver an average of 550,000 megawatt-hours of clean electricity annually. The project is expected to begin power delivery in 2010 and be fully operational in 2012. The ranch would employ SunPower's proprietary crystalline PV solar cells, which generate up to 50 percent more power than conventional crystalline cells.
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