Solar thermal projects have become mired in disputes over their impact on
fragile desert ecosystems and the lack of transmission lines to connect them to
cities. In December, California’s powerful Democratic senator, Dianne
Feinstein, introduced
legislation<\/a> to ban renewable energy development on more than a million
acres of the Mojave Desert she wants to protect as national monument.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Photovoltaic module prices, meanwhile, have plummeted by about
30 percent over the past year thanks to an oversupply of modules and the rise
of low-cost Chinese manufacturers. Thin-film solar companies, which make solar
cells that use little or no expensive polysilicon and which layer or print them
on glass or metal, began to produce solar modules for less than a one dollar a
watt—long considered a key milestone for making solar competitive with fossil
fuels. Though less efficient than conventional crystalline solar modules,
thin-film solar cells can be manufactured more cheaply, making it particularly
suited for use by photovoltaic power plants.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Distributed solar’s new competitiveness can be seen in a
spate of deals and initiatives over the past few weeks as utilities turn to
small-scale solar to help meet mandates to obtain a growing percentage of their
electricity from renewable sources. As of today, 1,300 megawatts’ worth of distributed solar
will be installed over the next five years—at peak output those arrays will
generate as much electricity as a big nuclear power plant.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
California regulators two weeks ago approved Southern
California Edison’s five-year program to install 500 megawatts of solar arrays
on commercial rooftops. They also recommended that PG&E, the big Northern
California utility, be given the go-ahead for its own 500-megawatt distributed
solar program to place small solar farms near substations and cities that can
plug directly into the grid.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And both utilities revealed additional distributed solar
deals this week. Southern California Edison agreed to buy 50 megawatts from
three small-scale solar farms to be built by San Francisco’s Recurrent Energy
in Kern and San Bernardino Counties in the eastern part of the state.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On Monday, PG&E filed a request that regulators approve <\/p>\n “We’re seeing the rest of the industry cotton on to what <\/p>\n For Sharp Solar, the biggest demand for its thin-film panels <\/p>\n (And lest you think this is just a California phenomenon, <\/p>\n The Sacramento Municipal Utility District showed, just last <\/p>\n But the shocker of the SMUD deal is that the utility is not <\/p>\n I’ll spare you the utility industry calculus of “time <\/p>\n “The point here is that this is an entirely revenue neutral <\/p>\n SMUD officials did not return requests for comment so I <\/p>\n Truth be told, we’re going to need every kilowatt of green Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n Large-scale distributed energy is here: Recurrent Energy signs 50MW power purchase agreement<\/a><\/p>\n How innovative financing is changing energy in America<\/a><\/p>\n Let the era of solar wholesale distributed generation begin<\/a><\/p>\n
a contract with Eurus Energy America<\/a>, a
joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power and Toyota Tsusho, for 50 megawatts
of solar electricity from three power plants to be constructed near Fresno.<\/p>\n
we’ve been saying, distributed solar done at the right size can scale,” says
Arno Harris, Recurrent’s chief executive. “Distributed solar is faster on
permitting, on environmental issues, and interconnection to the grid.”<\/p>\n
comes from utilities. “That’s what’s opening up the utility sector for Sharp—it’s a very robust market,” says Kenedi.<\/p>\n
the New York Power Authority last week announced<\/a> a program to
install 100 megawatts of photovoltaic panels on rooftops and at ground stations
over the next four years.)<\/p>\n
month, how fast the distributed generation market is growing when it put up 100
megawatts of photovoltaic projects up for bid and sold out the allotment in one
week.<\/p>\n
paying a premium for solar electricity, according to Adam Browning, executive director
of Vote Solar<\/a>, a San Francisco
nonprofit that promotes renewable energy (and an occasional Grist contributor).<\/p>\n
differential avoided costs,” but Browning has run the numbers and believes that
SMUD will pay essentially the same price for solar electricity as it would for
fossil fuel-generated power when demand peaks. (Solar farms typically supply
peak power as their output coincides with the time of day when demand spikes.)<\/p>\n
investment for SMUD,” Browning says. “They got solar electricity for what they
would have paid for fossil, which is a significant milestone.”<\/p>\n
could not verify those numbers with the utility, but given that solar
developers must put down a deposit of $20 a kilowatt for winning bids—that’s
$100,000 for a five-megawatt project—it seems unlikely there were many
speculators in the bunch willing to walk away from a six-figure commitment.<\/p>\n
electricity we can wring from Big Solar, distributed solar, wind, waves and
geothermal. But the rise of distributed solar generation will help ease the
load as well as the environmental pressures from developing other forms of
green energy.<\/p>\n
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