Solar Halo Sticks in U.S. As Utility-Owned Solar Expands

Solar Halo Sticks in U.S

Electric utilities are not only adding large amounts of new solar capacity to their supply portfolios, many of them are buying the actual power facilities, according to the Solar Electric Power Association’s “2010 SEPA Utility Solar Rankings” report released today.

In 2010, seven of the top 10 utilities with the largest additions of new solar capacity were located outside of California – about 63% of the new solar capacity. The top three utilities:

• Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), in northern California, took the top spot adding 157 megawatts (MW) of solar to its grid last year
• Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), based in Juno Beach, Florida
• Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSE&G), based in Newark, New Jersey

“More and more utilities are integrating solar power into their energy portfolios, including many in states like New Jersey, Idaho and North Carolina,” said Julia Hamm, president and CEO of SEPA in a press release. “Solar power has largely been associated only with California and the Southwest, but that’s no longer the case.”

Much of this added capacity came in the form of utility-owned, centralized projects, which rose to 226 MW in 2010 from 46 MW the previous year.

“In the past, utilities have largely relied on distributed photovoltaic systems for most new solar capacity,” Ms. Hamm said. “They are now integrating more larger-scale centralized projects.”

All told, of the 561 MW of solar added last year by the top 10 utilities (776 MW of solar capacity was added altogether in 2010), 140 MW are actually owned by utilities, marking an increase of more than 300% in utility-owned solar over the previous year. Expect this trend to continue, according to SEPA’s survey of expansion plans for adding future utility-owned solar PV. Other utilities are purchasing power from customer or third-party owned solar systems.  Some utilities both own solar facilities and procure solar from third parties.

Keynote projects included the two largest PV projects in the United States—the 48 MW Copper Mountain project, in Nevada, and the 30 MW Cimarron project, in New Mexico. The largest concentrating solar power project in nearly 20 years was also installed in 2010 by Florida Power & Light.

Post Source: http://www.forbes.com/