California Prisons Adding 23 MW Of Solar Power With SunEdison

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has entered into five agreements that will add nearly 23 MW of on-site solar-generated power at the Chuckawalla Valley State Prison and Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, Calif.; Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, Calif.; North Kern State Prison in Delano, Calif.; and California State Prison, Los Angeles County, in Lancaster, Calif.

The expansion is anticipated to save taxpayers more than $55 million over the life of the contracts, according to CDCR. Construction and maintenance will be arranged by SunEdison, using no state general-fund tax dollars. The costs of the projects are further reduced by incentive dollars from California's investor-owned utilities, through the California Solar Initiative program administered by the California Public Utilities Commission.  

The new projects will add more than 83,000 solar panels on the grounds of the five prisons, with construction expected to begin in 2012. 


Source:  CDCR

Ikea Installes Large Solar Energy Array at California Distribution Plant

TEJON, Calif. — Swedish home furnishings giant Ikea powered up a solar energy system at a distribution center here that it says is the second-largest single-roof commercial system in the state and the sixth largest in the nation.

The 370,000-square-foot solar array consists of a 1.8 megawatt system designed and installed by California-based REC Solar and built with 7,980 panels.

The solar system will produce 2.88 million kilowatt hours of electric power annually, the equivalent of eliminating the emissions of 389 cars, or powering 241 homes yearly, Ikea reported in a press release.

It also contributes to the local utility's renewable portfolio goals.

"Having solar panels on the roof of this distribution center demonstrates that the company's sustainable commitment extends beyond our stores into all facets of the retail operations," said Martin Grieder, distribution operations manager for western North America, in the press release.

In the U.S., Ikea has solar energy systems in four stores and is installing them at nine other locations, including a Denver-area store opening this year that also will have a geothermal system.

The 1.8 million-square-foot Tejon Distribution Center opened in 2000 on 60 acres along Interstate 5 in Kern County.

Source:   Furniture Today

New Study Proves that PV Installations Contribute "Sizable" Value When Reselling Your Home

Homes with solar PV systems sell for a premium over homes without solar installations, according to new research by the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Although the premise that installing PV will add value to a home has long been promoted by installers and others in the industry, the new study - titled "An Analysis of the Effects of Residential Photovoltaic Energy Systems on Home Sales Prices in California" - confirms and quantifies this effect.

According to the lab, this research is the first to empirically explore the existence and magnitude of residential PV sales price impacts across a large number of homes and over a wide geographic area. Over the past few years, an increasing number of homes with PV systems have sold, particularly in California, but relatively little research has been performed to estimate the impacts of those PV systems on home sales prices.

Overall, the researchers found that homes with PV in California have sold for a premium, expressed in dollars per watt of installed PV, of approximately $3.9/W to $6.4/W.

"These average sales price premiums appear to be comparable with the average investment that homeowners have made to install PV systems in California, and of course, homeowners also benefit from energy bill savings after PV system installation and prior to home sale," says the report's lead author, Ben Hoen, a researcher at Berkeley Lab.

The $3.9/W-to-$6.4/W increase corresponds to an average home sales price premium of approximately $17,000 for a relatively new 3.1 kW PV system (the average size of PV systems in the Berkeley Lab data set), and compares to an average investment that homeowners have made to install PV systems in California of approximately $5/W over the 2001-2009 period.

"This is a sizable effect," says Ryan Wiser, a Berkeley Lab scientist and co-author. "This research might influence the decisions of homeowners considering installing a PV system and of home buyers considering buying a home with PV already installed. Even new-home builders that are contemplating PV as a component of their homes can benefit from this research."

The lab analyzed a dataset of more than 72,000 California homes that were sold between 2000 and mid-2009, approximately 2,000 of which had a PV system at the time of sale. The research controlled for a large number of factors that might influence results, such as housing market fluctuations, neighborhood effects, the age of the home, and the size of the home and the parcel on which it was located, the researchers note.

The resulting premiums associated with PV systems were consistent across a large number of model specifications and robustness tests. The research also showed that, as PV systems age, the premium enjoyed at the time of home sale decreases.

Additionally, existing homes with PV systems were found to have commanded a larger sales price premium than new homes with similarly sized PV systems.

"One reason for the disparity between existing and new homes with PV might be that new-home builders also gain value from PV as a market differentiator that speeds the home sales process, a factor not analyzed in the Berkeley Lab study," says Berkeley Lab researcher and co-author Peter Cappers. "More research is warranted to better understand these and related impacts."

The full report can be downloaded here.

Photo credit: SolarCity

Main Street Power Co. Launches "Solar for All California" Training Program

Main Street Power Co. Inc., a national solar finance company, has begun its citizen training component of the solar energy pilot program it is implementing in partnership with MS Solar Solutions Corp., Central Coast Energy Services and California Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) providers.

The program is designed to deliver no-cost solar power to income-qualified residents of multifamily units across California. Training will be led by program partners Zep Solar, Enphase Energy and Canadian Solar.

The two-day training program will teach over 30 LIHEAP agency employees how to perform basic residential solar installation work. The systems they install are expected to provide power to more than 1,000 residential units.

SOURCE: Main Street Power Co.

U.S. Solar Doubled in 2010, May Add 2 Gigawatts to Double Again

The amount of new solar energy capacity in the U.S. doubled last year and may double again in 2011 because of government incentives, stronger demand and falling prices, a trade group said.

The total capacity of photovoltaic and solar thermal power systems that were installed last year reached 956 megawatts, compared with 441 megawatts added in 2009, according to a report released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Installed capacity of residential, commercial and utility- scale plants may increase by as much as 2 gigawatts this year, according to GTM Research, which worked with Washington-based SEIA to produce the report.

“Another doubling of U.S. installations in 2011 is likely, even in the absence of a substantial mid-year price decline,” Shayle Kann, GTM Research’s managing director of solar research, said in an interview.

In total, 878 megawatts of photovoltaic systems and 78 megawatts of solar thermal power projects were installed in 2010, according to the report. The cost was $6 billion, up 67 percent from 2009.

The cumulative total of 2.6 gigawatts of installed capacity can power more than 500,000 households, the report said.

Largest Market

First Solar Inc. (FSLR), the world’s largest maker of thin-film solar modules, expects the U.S. to be its largest market this year, and has 2,400 megawatts of North American projects in its development pipeline, Alan Bernheimer, a spokesman for the Tempe, Arizona-based company, said in an e-mail.

A U.S. Treasury grant program, which reimburses 30 percent of the costs of installing solar systems, helped drive up the number of projects, the report said. The installed price of photovoltaic systems fell by 10 percent for commercial and 8 percent for residential installations last year.

Other countries are cutting their subsidies for solar systems this year, potentially leading to an oversupply of panels and further price cuts.

“There is a strange effect where the worse things get in Germany and Italy, the more suppliers are going to price more competitively in new markets, like the U.S., ultimately growing the market,” Kann said.

California had 259 megawatts of photovoltaic capacity installed in 2010, more than all other states. New Jersey followed with 137 megawatts, more than doubling from 57 megawatts in 2009 and the highest growth rate.

SEIA represents about 1,000 companies involved in the solar energy industry, including installers, manufacturers, developers, financial companies and others, SEIA’s assistant manager of communications Jared Blanton said in an e-mail.

Source:   Bloomberg

Tipping Point: So Cal Edison says Solar Now Cheaper than Natural Gas

We hear it every day: "Solar is too expensive." Well, not according to the California utility Southern California Edison.

In a recent filing to the state's Public Utilities Commission, SCE asked for approval of 20 solar PV projects worth 250 MW – all of which are expected to generate a total of 567 GWh of electricity for less than the price of natural gas.

Although the exact details of the 20-year contracts for the projects are kept confidential for a few years, the utility reports that all winning solar developers issued bids for contracts below the Market Price Referent, which is the estimated cost of electricity from a 500-MW combined-cycle natural gas plant.

What does that mean? It means that a large number of solar PV project developers believe they can deliver solar electricity at a very competitive price. And these aren't mega-projects either. All of the installations will be between 4.7 MW and 20 MW – a sweet spot for PV projects.

Although the price of natural gas has plummeted in recent years because of excessive production and lower demand for power, the cost of solar projects and the price of solar electricity has dropped in tandem. With stong solar requirements in states like California, demand for PV has stayed strong.

"Solar energy is a natural hedge against rising energy costs – a hedge that regulators and utilities are turning to lower electricity costs for their customers," said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association.

California regulators seem to agree that mid-sized solar PV installations, which capture economies of scale but suffer fewer regulatory and transmission constraints, are an important part of the market.

These latest projects were solicited through SCE's Renewables Standard Contracts program, a reverse auction mechanism implemented by the utility in 2010. The program is a precursor to California's Reverse Auction Mechanism (RAM) that was approved last December. That 1-GW program requires California's three largest utilities to hold auctions twice a year to solicit bids from developers of mid-sized (i.e. 1-20 MW) solar PV projects.

The 250 MW of contracts sent to the CPUC for approval is in addition to a 500-MW solar program initiated by SCE in 2009.

According to SCE's filing, the utility seems to be genuinely positive about the prospects for solar PV:

“Solar PV is a mature and proven renewable energy technology that has been supplying a substantial amount of renewable energy to SCE and other California load-serving entities (“LSEs”) for several years.”

While large-scale concentrating solar power projects have been gaining ground in California and other southwestern states, PV is looking like the better option in many cases. Due to the steady declines in the cost of production and price of modules, as well as improvements in Balance of Systems technologies (i.e. power electronics, racking and wiring) that make installations more efficient, solar PV is leading the way.

“The solar industry has done a great job in bringing down costs – long a promise, now a reality,” said Adam Browning, executive director of the Vote Solar Initiative, in a response to the recent SCE announcement. “These are price-points that can really scale, and will encourage policymakers to think big.”

In a recent report from GTM Research comparing similar-sized CSP and PV projects, the authors forecast that electricity from utility-scale PV plants will be considerably lower than some CSP technologies. In the next decade, the research firm projects CSP plants will be generating electricity in the $0.10 to $0.12 per kWh range and PV will be producing electricity in the $0.07 to $0.08 kWh range. (On the flip side, CSP technologies can offer storage capabilities and hybrid natural gas components, providing value that PV can't necessarily deliver.)

With high peak demand, lots of expensive “spinning reserve” power plants and ample sunlight, California is the likely place for PV to compete. But with project costs continuing to drop and utilities promoting the technology, the steady march toward grid parity will spread to other markets as well, said Vote Solar's Browning.

“Though California does have world-class sunlight, solar is modular and adaptable, and similar results can be had throughout the country.”

California Proposal Presents Four Strategies To Let The Sun Shine In

The solar sector in California stands to receive a potentially significant boost if a four-pronged renewable energy policy and business initiative introduced these week by state legislators is signed into law.

Assembly Speaker John A. Perez and Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg have introduced the Clean Energy Jobs Initiative, which is designed to both accelerate renewable energy deployment in California and aid the budget-beleaguered state in resolving its persistent fiscal crisis.

The initiative carries weight for national solar policy as well. California is, of course, the U.S.' runaway leader in solar deployment, and its pro-environment policies are frequently regarded as a bellwether for the rest of the country.

The Clean Energy Jobs Initiative comprises four components: a 33% renewable portfolio standard (RPS), a measure intended to expedite the siting and construction of large-scale renewable energy projects, funding for curricular restructuring to provide training for clean energy jobs, and a program providing loan guarantees for residential and small commercial renewable energy and energy-efficiency installations.

The RPS, which reintroduces legislation proposed by State Sen. Joe Simitian, would require investor-owned utilities, publicly owned utilities and energy service providers to procure 33% of California's electricity from renewable sources, according to a fact sheet issued by Perez and Steinberg.

In fall 2009, this mandate was approved by the California State Legislature but vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose "subsequent efforts to address the issue by executive order have proven both ambiguous and problematic," Perez and Steinberg claim.

The Renewable Energy Siting Act - the package's second component - would allow developers of wind power plants and geothermal power plants to take advantage of the expedited permitting and environmental-impact assessment options that were made available to solar project developers last year.

Additionally, for all renewable energy projects - including solar projects - the bill would allow applicants to provide to the California Environmental Quality Act's reviewing agency information on the proposed installation's environmental benefits.

California's San Joaquin Valley region receives particular attention in the Renewable Energy Siting Act. The state's Department of Fish and Game would be required to prepare a regional conservation plan, and San Joaquin Valley and desert-area counties would receive funds to "revise their local plans to facilitate renewable energy development," the fact sheet says.

The bill's green-jobs component, known as the Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Job Training, Career Technical Education and Dropout Prevention Program, targets both renewable energy goals and educational goals.

Under this directive, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission would fund approximately 90 new California Partnership Academies, using $8 million in funds from its Energy Resources Program Account. Schools eligible to receive grants would be required to partner with regional renewable energy businesses.

Finally, the Clean Energy Reserve program is intended as an alternative to Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs, which have been plagued by objections from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). (California's attorney general, along with several advocacy organizations, is currently challenging the FHFA in court.)

The new initiative, which would use the $50 million that was previously designated for PACE, would "provide a reserve or other credit enhancements to qualified lenders, in order to decrease risk for lenders and reduce interest rates for borrowers." Unlike with PACE, however, lenders - not borrowers - would apply for the credit enhancements, which can be applied to loans securing renewable energy installations, energy efficiency projects and water efficiency projects.

The legislative fate of the Clean Energy Jobs Initiative remains to be seen. In their announcement, Steinberg and Perez vowed to send the legislation "to the governor's desk as quickly as possible in order to remove the bureaucratic red tape hampering construction of clean energy facilities and burnish California's position as a global leader in developing and sustaining the emerging market of clean technology."

Gov. Jerry Brown has previously indicated support for renewable energy - including announcing a goal of deploying 20,000 MW by 2020. However, the Clean Energy Jobs Initiative must first clear the California State Legislature.

Source:  Solar Industry

Southern California Edison Completes Seven New PV Plants

Southern California Edison (SCE) says that seven new solar power plants in the area are now online. The newest solar photovoltaic installations, located in Ontario, Calif., and Redlands, Calif., have a combined peak generating capacity of 12.5 MW. The new plants bring to 10 the number of SCE neighborhood solar stations.

The Ontario installations involved four separate solar stations on 1.8 million square feet of leased warehouse roofs owned by ProLogis. The 32,950 solar photovoltaic panels SCE has installed in Ontario are capable of generating 5.5 MW of power. The three installations in Redlands feature a total of 34,600 PV panels spread over 1.5 million square feet of ProLogis warehouse roofs. The panels can generate 7 MW of power.

SCE notes that its solar stations can be brought online quickly once the distribution circuits they are being connected to are prepared to handle the new generator output and voltage controls. One of SCE's objectives is to study the impact on local grid reliability, so that these distributed energy resources can be interconnected safely. Lessons learned during deployment of SCE’s solar photovoltaic project will be shared with other utilities and the solar market to foster similar efforts, the utility says.

SOURCE: Southern California Edison

Coming soon: California's version of a solar feed-in tariff

California homeowners with solar panels have had an unusual arrangement: They’ve been able to use their utility as a kind of power storage bank through-out the year — but they’ve been forced to give the utility any extra power beyond what they use at home, free of charge.

This will change in early 2011…

Currently, when a California home solar installation produces more power than the home uses that month, this excess power can be “banked” for use in a subsequent month (applied against the bill for power bought from the utility). But every 12 months these power storage accounts must be reconciled — at which time the homeowner then either pays for a shortfall, or surrenders any remaining excess for free to the utility.

But in 2011, the state’s investor-owned utilities (Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric) will have to start paying homeowners for this extra generation capacity at a rate to be determined by the California Public Utilities Commission as early as January 2011.

The extra power production is recorded via net metering, one of the capabilities of smart meters. The “net surplus compensation” is required as part of AB 920 (the California Solar Surplus Bill), which was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and which took effect at the start of 2010.

Less than 10% of the state’s solar photovoltaic system owners are likely to be affected by this law. And in most cases, their compensation will be small.

However, the response of homeowners may be vocal. This is because most will follow their intuition, believing that they are entitled to be paid for excess generation at a rate equal to the retail price that they pay for the utility to provide electricity to them — not the wholesale price that utilities pay to conventional suppliers.

The wholesale rate for power runs about 5 cents per kWh, while the retail rate is more like 25 cents. This difference results from all of the other things included in electricity rates — including transmission, distribution, customer service, energy efficiency, and other programs.

Under the draft decision before the CPUC, the compensation for net surplus generation would be calculated by a formula that reflects short-term wholesale electricity prices. Because these prices vary hourly, the plan calls for averaging out 12 months of fluctuations. In 2009, the average price for was 5 cents per kWh for energy purchased between 7am and 5pm (typical hours for solar energy production).

The draft decision also calls for adding a payment to the wholesale electricity price that reflects the cleaner-energy attributes of solar or other renewable generation. This amount is to be based on the average market price of renewable energy credits. These are not yet traded on a public market in California, but could be about 1-3 cents per kWh.

The CPUC’s hands are somewhat tied as it addresses this pricing issue. California law requires that net generators receive “just and reasonable” compensation; but also that this cannot affect other ratepayers. But here, other ratepayers are benefitting only through avoided purchases from the wholesale market — hence the use of wholesale prices to set these rates.

A further wrinkle is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission policy which equates excess residential generation with wholesale power. (FERC regulates the wholesale power market.) Such power can be compensated only at the avoided wholesale cost, with reasonable adjustments. Thus, the CPUC may factor in the cleaner-energy attributes of renewably generated electricity.

Of course, the higher the rate paid to homeowners who generate excess power, the more it will promote residential solar panel installations. Look for the CPUC’s final ruling in the next few weeks.

Source:  eMeter Smart Grid Watch

Related Articles:   Click here to learn more about Feed in Tariffs

CEC Approves 959 MW of Solar

Following the recent success of licensing solar energy facilities, the California Energy Commission today approved nearly 1,000 megawatts (MW) of solar power in Southern California.

The Genesis Solar Energy Project and the Imperial Valley Solar Project, totaling 959 MW, are now the fifth and sixth solar power plants that the Energy Commission has licensed in the past five weeks. Since late August, the Commission has licensed 2,829 MW of renewable solar power in the California desert.

In two separate unanimous votes, the Energy Commission adopted the presiding member's proposed decisions (PMPD) that recommended licensing the 250-MW Genesis project in Riverside County and the 709-MW Imperial Valley project in Imperial County. In order to qualify for federal stimulus funds, the projects needed to be approved by the Energy Commission before December 31, 2010.

These projects are a direct result of the successful partnership between California and the Department of the Interior (DOI). In October 2009, California was the first state to sign a memo of understanding with the DOI to develop long-term renewable energy plans through state and federal permitting processes that can receive 30 percent federal tax credits under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The two projects would be among the first commercial solar thermal power plants permitted on federal public land in the United States. Both projects still require decisions from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which approves the use of federal public lands, before they can proceed. The BLM's actions are scheduled for October.

The Genesis Solar Energy Project is being proposed by Genesis Solar LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC. The project site is located in eastern Riverside County about 25 miles west of Blythe. The project is north of Ford Dry Lake and Interstate 10. The project is seeking a right-of-way grant from the BLM for 4,640 acres, with construction and operation of the facility taking up about 1,800 acres.

The proposed project would use parabolic trough technology where parabolic mirrors are used to heat a transfer fluid which is then used to generate steam. Electricity is produced from the steam expanding through steam turbine generators.

The Imperial Valley Solar Project is being developed by Imperial Valley Solar, LLC, a subsidiary of Tessera Solar, in Imperial County. The project is located about 14 miles west of El Centro.

The project would be located on approximately 6,140 acres of land managed by the BLM and about 360 acres of privately-owned land.

The facility would use solar dish Stirling systems, or "SunCatchers", consisting of a solar receiver heat exchanger and a closed-cycle, high efficiency engine designed to convert solar power to rotary power, then driving an electrical generator to produce electricity.

The Genesis and Imperial Valley projects are among nine large solar thermal projects scheduled to go before the Commission before the end of the year. More than 4,100 megawatts of solar power will be added if all nine projects are approved. The nine projects would provide more than 8,000 construction jobs and more than 1,000 operational jobs.

The four previously licensed plants are: the 250-MW Beacon Solar Energy Project (Aug. 25); the 250-MW Abengoa Mojave Solar Project (Sept. 8); the 1,000-MW Blythe Solar Power Project (Sept. 15); and the 370-MW Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System project (Sept. 22). The 663.5-MW Calico Solar Project is scheduled for the Oct. 28 meeting. Two other projects, the 500-MW Palen Solar Power Project and the 150-MW Rice Solar Energy Project, are still under review.

The PMPDs for the Genesis and Imperial Valley projects said the facilities, even with mitigation measures, will have significant impacts on cultural resources, land use, and visual resources. The Imperial Valley project also will have significant impact on biological resources and would be inconsistent with an Imperial County land use ordinance.

However, the benefits of the projects would override those impacts. The Genesis project will require a peak workforce of 1,085 during construction, with another 50 jobs when the plant is in operation. The Imperial Valley project will need a peak workforce of 731 during construction, with another 164 operational jobs.

The PMPDs were based solely on the record of facts that were established during the facilities' certification proceedings.

The proposed solar thermal power projects that the Energy Commission is considering will help meet the state's Renewables Portfolio Standard, which requires California's electricity utility companies to use renewable energy to produce 20 percent of their power by 2010 and 33 percent by 2020. Solar energy is a main source of renewable power.

The federal government and the State of California have established the need to increase the development and use of renewable energy in order to enhance the nation's energy independence, meet environmental goals, and create new economic growth opportunities.

Source:   Renewable Energy World

SoloPower Is First Ever to Receive UL Certification for a Flexible CIGS Module

In a watershed breakthrough for the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry, SoloPower, Inc., a California-based manufacturer of flexible, thin-film solar PV cells and modules, today announced UL certification for its flexible, CIGS modules, a first-ever achievement for the PV solar industry.

"As governor, I have made it a point to make California an environmental leader with a global footprint. SoloPower's advancement demonstrates that California is leading the way in technology innovation for the green economy," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. "We welcome this type of innovation that creates jobs, strengthens the economy, and helps protect the environment."

This is the first UL-certified product in a line of high-power flexible modules being introduced initially to European and North American markets. The flexibility and high-power rating of these products will allow SoloPower's customers to reduce balance-of-system and installation costs, while their low weight and application features will facilitate solar installations where they are otherwise impossible.

"The certification of SoloPower's flexible CIGS module is an important step toward the realization of lightweight, high-power, flexible solar modules with potential to expand the roof-top solar market and reduce balance of system costs. It is an important milestone for the industry. I feel very gratified to see, after a 30-year career in Thin Film CIGS PV at NREL, the technology become mature," says Dr. Rommel Noufi, Principal Scientist of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

UL certification was granted following rigorous testing at an independent laboratory. SoloPower's thin-film modules were tested to UL 1703, the standard for safety for PV module manufacturing. In addition to this confirmation, SoloPower itself has conducted extensive internal testing that well exceeds the safety, quality, and reliability standards established by these tests. SoloPower was also the first manufacturer to receive UL certification for rigid modules based on flexible CIGS PV cells in June of 2009.

SoloPower's line of high-power, lightweight, flexible photovoltaic module products include multiple form factors: the SFX1 module (80Wp, 0.3m x 2.9m, 2.3kg / 5lbs.), the SFX2 module (170Wp, 0.3m x 5.8m, 3.6kg / 8 lbs.), and the SFX3 module (260Wp, 0.9m x 2.9m, 6kg / 13lbs.).

Plans for Scale-up to Address Demand

"With low-cost and low-capital expenditure requirements, SoloPower's core manufacturing process will enable rapid scale-up during our next phase of expansion," said Tim Harris, CEO, SoloPower. "The Company is in the process of adding a second manufacturing line that will significantly increase capacity to meet expected demand."

Simultaneously, SoloPower is in discussions with the Department of Energy to potentially obtain a loan guarantee under EPACT 2005 Section 1703 to support the construction of an additional multiple-line production facility.

SoloPower at European PV Conference in Valencia

SoloPower modules will be on display at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, September 6 - 9, 2010 in Valencia, Spain at the jura-plast GmbH booth (Level 2 / Hall 4 / A-29). Also at the conference, SoloPower's CTO, Dr. Mustafa Pinarbasi, will speak on Wednesday, September 8 about "Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing of Flexible CIGS Cells and Panels."

About SoloPower

SoloPower, Inc. produces low-cost, high-power, flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules that offer a viable alternative to electricity produced using traditional fossil fuels. SoloPower's modules employ its solar cell devices fabricated with copper indium gallium di-selenide (CIGS) materials using a proprietary roll-to-roll electrodeposition process. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley at 5981 Optical Court, San Jose, California 95138. For more information on SoloPower, please visit the company on the Internet at www.solopower.com.

SOURCE SoloPower, Inc.

New FIT Program Could Blow California's Solar Market Wide Open

On Aug. 24, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) released a proposal that would establish a 1 GW pilot program requiring Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to procure electricity from renewable energy systems up to 20 MW in size. Industry observers say the plan could unleash a frenzy of solar power development in California.

"We have a hard mandate for a gigawatt pilot," Adam Browning, executive director of the Vote Solar Initiative, tells Solar Industry. "This will be intensely competitive, with developers clamoring to get these deals done."

The proposal, submitted by Administrative Law Judge Burton Mattson, would be backed by a feed-in tariff (FIT) based on market prices. These prices would be negotiated during biannual auctions - a procurement method the CPUC has dubbed the Renewable Auction Mechanism (RAM).

California's current FIT applies to projects up to 1.5 MW in size, and the procurement target is capped at 500 MW. Also, the standard contracts under the existing FIT program are priced against a market-price referent (MPR), which is determined by the cost of energy produced at combined-cycle natural-gas plants. California S.B.32, signed into law last October, would expand the FIT program to a 750 MW cap and a project size up to 3 MW, but the CPUC has not implemented it.

Although all renewable energy generation assets would be eligible for the new program, it seems likely that solar would be the key beneficiary. By increasing the eligible system size to 20 MW, the CPUC has hit a sweet spot for large-scale photovoltaic (PV) plants.

PV system costs have dropped precipitously over the past year, making the development of big installations economically viable for all stakeholders. And with those lower system costs have come lower solar energy prices - so low, in fact, that the lofty goal of reaching grid parity is in sight in California.

"This is a sea change in the solar industry," Browning says.

He notes that the wholesale clearing price of solar is currently below retail rates, enticing utilities to scoop up solar power not only to help meet the state's renewable portfolio standard (RPS) mandate, but to simply procure energy at competitive prices.

The RAM appears to be a useful mechanism for doing that. Experience with the existing FIT suggests that utilities would resist the fixed-price contracts that would accompany the implementation of S.B.32. The RAM provides an option to avoid that unpleasantness. In essence, the CPUC has determined that renewable energy should be priced on its own merits - not against the price of fossil-fuel generation.

"The key thing is they have shown their hand, as far as what they think the value of solar is above the MPR table," comments Dr. John Barnes, founder and principal partner of Solar Power Development Partners, based in Saratoga, Calif.

The CPUC has also expressed its desire to expedite RPS fulfillment, which is much easier to accomplish with midsized projects that can come online in a fraction of the time it takes a massive concentrating solar power (CSP) plant to be commissioned. While the output of a CSP facility can register in the hundreds of megawatts, large PV plants - while certainly complicated and expensive - are more nimble, the commission has reasoned.

The new proposal also helps stakeholders skirt thorny issues related to transmission. In most cases, the transmission infrastructure needed to move power from remote CSP plants to demand centers is not available. Building new high-voltage lines requires not only huge capital investments, but also Federal Energy Regulatory Commission involvement, which presents challenges related to jurisdiction and project timelines.

Midsized PV projects can integrate with the grid via existing electric-distribution networks. To one degree or another, all of the investor-owned utilities that would participate in the new program are currently engaged in upgrading distribution equipment. In turn, it is presumed that these systems will be able to handle the integration of distributed solar resources.

"The real way to get solar installed in California is through distributed generation," Barnes says. "It allows you to connect these systems and get them done in a reasonable time frame without transmission upgrades."

For its part, the CPUC has fortified the proposal with language that seeks to cut away the fat and ensure that only projects that are shovel-ready enter the RAM pipeline. For instance, the proposal recommends a RAM deposit of $20/kW for selected projects. Developments that are selected for the program would have 18 months from the date of contract execution to begin commercial operation - if not, the project deposit would be lost.

Although the proposal is not a final rule, Browning is confident that the major provisions of the plan will sail through the comment period and be adopted by the CPUC. In fact, he says the commission could vote on the proposal within a few weeks, potentially leading to "tremendous growth" in California's solar market.

"It's a very positive step toward higher levels of distributed solar generation," Barnes adds.

Source:  Solar Industry

California Will Drive Mid-sized Solar Projects with New Incentive Program

he California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has issued a proposed decision to launch a new renewable incentive program with the aim of driving the uptake of mid-sized renewable energy development. This next-generation feed-in tariff program will require investor-owned California utilities to purchase electricity from renewable energy systems between one and 20MW in size.

"California has robust policies for developing large, utility-scale solar power plants and for putting smaller systems on homes and businesses, but there is a clear gap in the middle. The CPUC proposal is designed to unlock that missing piece, providing an additional opportunity for solar market and job growth and for quickly bringing massive new amounts of clean energy to the state," said Adam Browning, executive director of Vote Solar, who will work with CPUC to implement these changes.

"Solar policy should provide the foundations for long-term market growth by providing a transparent process, a level playing field, and a reliable market opportunity," said Kevin Fox, of the law firm Keyes & Fox, which represents IREC, another advocate of the initiative. "This program achieves those larger policy goals through an innovative pricing mechanism that also protects California ratepayers and overcomes the legal challenges that have hindered widespread feed-in tariff development in the U.S."

The CPUC proposal establishes a 1GW pilot program for power from eligible mid-sized renewable energy systems. The program requires California's three largest investor-owned utilities to hold biannual competitive auctions into which renewable developers can bid. Utilities must award contracts starting with the lowest cost viable project and moving up in price until the MW requirement is reached for that round.

The program will use standard terms and conditions to lower transactional costs and provide the contractual transparency needed for effective financing. Development security and relatively short project development timelines ensure project viability. The commission can act to finalize and adopt the program in as soon as thirty days.

California Approves First CSP Plant Since 1990

The full California Energy Commission (CEC) unanimously approved NextEra Energy Resources' 250MW Beacon Solar Energy Project, the first concentrating solar power plant (CSP) to be approved in the state in a generation.

The CEC, which will take final decisions on several other large solar thermal plants in the coming weeks, has been racing to review the projects.

The permitting process has been lengthy - Beacon has been under review since March 2008 - and often contentious, encompassing issues of desert land use, protection of threatened and endangered species, and water use.

"Today’s action begins the journey of increasing clean renewable energy in California,” CEC Chairman Karen Douglas says in a statement.

According to the CEC, it hasn't approved a CSP plant since February 1990, when it gave the go ahead to Luz Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS) IX and Luz SEGS X.

A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, the project development unit of energy company FPL Group, proposed the large-scale parabolic trough project on fallow agricultural land at the edge of the Mojave Desert in Kern County.

Unlike several other large CSP projects rushing to obtain permits this summer, Beacon would not be built on federal land and therefore does not require a seperate right of way from the Bureau of Land Management.

One major box is yet to be checked by NextEra - a purchaser for the gigawatts of energy Beacon would crank out each year.

Californian utilities are hungry for green energy to fulfill their increasing renewables requirements under state law.

The state is debating whether to elevate its current requirement that utilities get 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by the end of this year, to 33% by 2020.

Source:   ReCharge