Solar-Friendly Skies
Location: New York
Author: Ken Silverstein, EnergyBiz Insider, Editor-in-Chief
Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Solar panels on rooftops are one version. But commercial-scale solar
facilities are another. To this point, most of the attention has been on
progressive homeowners who make their homes solar friendly. Some key
companies, though, are working hard to provide electricity to large blocks
of people.
Growth in the sector won't be quick. But concerns over air quality along
with government mandates are giving manufacturers the certainties they need
to make expensive investments, and to ultimately prosper. That's behind the
recent wave of innovation and the proposed build-out of new solar systems
throughout the sunny southwest.
Consider San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), which
is mandated by California to provide 20 percent renewable power by 2010:
It's backing so-called concentrated solar plants that channel the sun into a
beam by using a series of mirrors. The resulting heat can then be used in a
conventional power plant. The utility recently made a presentation to
investors at Jefferies Global Clean Technology Conference in which it said
that it had the internal funds to build such a commercial-scale facility
itself and that by doing so, it will be able to utilize the 30-percent
federal tax credit given for such investments. Its first plant will be 250
megawatts.
"Solar thermal energy is an especially attractive renewable power source
because it is available when needed most in California -- during the peak
midday summer period," says Fong Wan, vice president of energy procurement
at PG&E. The utility, which is also procuring solar power from other
sources, said it will continue to place capital in solar photovoltaic energy
that is smaller and distributed as well as in larger, concentrated solar
power, both of which will benefit from future technological price
reductions.
It is too soon to determine whether smaller-scale or larger-scale projects
will be the wave of the future, says Wan. While concentrated solar power is
more efficient and can offer storage, it is still relatively expensive and
untested. At the same time, such facilities require extremely large plots of
land and, as is the case for all utility-scale projects, they are difficult
to get permitted. Photovoltaic energy, by comparison, is proven, less
controversial and can be easily connected to existing power lines.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., is working with
private enterprise to install 1,000 megawatts of concentrated solar power
system throughout the southwest by 2010. The agency says that such a
build-out in combination with continued research and development will drive
down the price of such solar power to seven cents a kilowatt-hour, making it
cost competitive with other fuel sources in the region.
Indeed, California's Mojave Desert is home to multiple efforts at
commercial-scale solar power facilities. Solar One will have 500 megawatts
of capacity with the option to expand to 850 megawatts. Solar Two in the
Imperial Valley, meanwhile, will have 300 megawatts of capacity with the
potential to go to as high 900 megawatts. Each site is fully contracted by
Southern California Edison, which will begin buying power in 2010.
Central Location
Right now, solar energy provides less than 1 percent of all energy needs in
this country. If all goes according to plan, it could supply 2 percent of
the nation's generation mix by 2025, the Bush administration once predicted.
Others, though, say its potential is 10 percent of the nation's energy mix
by that time.
Renewable energy developers are struggling now to raise cash. But with the
assorted government incentives, they are expected to get back on track,
particularly those in the solar realm. NextEra Energy Resources, for
example, has filed a petition to build a 250 megawatt plant in the Mojave
Desert that it says can be expanded to 850 megawatts by 2015.
Palo Alto-based Ausra also uses concentrated solar power to gather the sun's
energy as heat. It recently launched such a plant in Bakersfield, Calif. It
is furthermore developing storage systems, noting that its plants will
gather energy during daylight hours to generate power as needed for up to 20
hours. By storing energy as heat during the day, a power plant can continue
to produce electricity during dark or cloudy periods.
"This plant proves that our technology is real, it works, and it's ready to
power businesses or provide process steam for industries -- now," says Ausra
Chief Executive Bob Fishman, adding that the Bakersfield facility will be
able to generate five megawatts by 2011. The solar manufacturing is also
working with PG&E to ensure the construction of a 177-megawatt solar power
plant in central California by 2010.
Overseas, concentrated solar power is also getting attention. In Spain, the
technology will eventually generate 11 megawatts. The goal is to expand that
output to 300 megawatts in the coming years. Solucar, the company building
the $1.5 billion facility, says that it will effectively avoid the release
of 600,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Altogether, about 50 concentrated solar plants are on the drawing board in
Spain. Germany, too, is going gangbusters. Both nations lead the European
pack, mainly because of favorable tax breaks and continent-wide mandates to
provide 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
"Concentrated solar power is at the very beginning of a big boom," says Jose
Luis Garcia, at Greenpeace in Spain, in a story that appeared in the UK's
Guardian. "Spain is in a good position to develop and implement the
technology. We have the sun so we are in the best position to lead in this
field."
The technology is still unproven. But it's a risk that some major investors
are making. If solar power can be dispatched from a central location to
large urban areas, it would have the potential to change the energy paradigm
both in this country and around the world.
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