Colorado Could Become Solar Leader

Colorado Could Become Solar Leader

Sep 29 - The Gazette

Solar power accounts for a fraction of the megawatts wind generates, but as technology improves and costs fall, solar panels could catch up in a big way.

Colorado is already home to two solar panel manufacturing companies: AVA Solar in Fort Collins and Ascent Solar in Littleton.

The possibilities for solar are huge, said Russ Kanjorski, marketing vice president for AVA Solar.

"The industry is fairly large now, but it's growing extremely rapidly -- doubling every two years," Kanjorski said. "If companies are able to bring their costs down to the point where there is grid parity (when solar costs the same as existing energy sources), at that point, the market is virtually unlimited."

AVA is developing thin-film solar panels that can be produced far more cheaply than traditional crystalline silicon panels. The technology lays down a film of photovoltaic material on ordinary glass. The company's target, Kanjorski said, is utility-scale power plants and the roofs of large commercial buildings.

"If you can imagine doing acres and acres of very regular (solar) installations, that's where the utility scale comes in," he said.

Back in the 1980s, Joe McCabe ran a solar panel company, Energy Ideas, in Colorado Springs. Today, he's the vice president of business development for Ascent Solar -- which also makes thin-film solar panels.

Unlike AVA, Ascent's solar films go on plastic, and the company envisions them being used in solar rooftops on ordinary houses.

"New development is the best place to put solar electricity," McCabe said. "You don't have to build as big of transmission lines or as big of power plants. In some places, photovoltaics are more cost-competitive than building a new power plant."

Colorado Springs, McCabe said, could be a leader in residential solar if big new developments such as Banning Lewis Ranch on the city's eastern edge can incorporate solar panels.

"That's the kind of thing that in California, half the houses are having photovoltaic roofs put on," McCabe said.

Colorado could also someday be a national leader in solar energy production, not just manufacturing. Photovoltaic panels work best in cooler temperatures, and the occasional rain shower is helpful, because it cleans off the dust and grime.

"Especially the corridor between Santa Fe and Fort Collins," McCabe said. "Photovoltaics work the best in that corridor."

"The elevation is also good," Kanjorski said. "The higher up you are, the less (solar energy) you lose from the atmosphere."

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