Another Reason We Can’t Fully Trust China’s Solar Installation Numbers

After dealing with interconnection delays, solar developers are now facing curtailment on China’s grid.
 
Skynet Solar
July 29, 2015





China's solar installation figures look impressive on paper. As of June, the country had installed a cumulative 35 gigawatts of projects -- an impressive feat considering that its domestic PV market was virtually nonexistent five years ago.

But those figures don't tell us much about the performance of projects.

We've seen increasing reports about defective panels and project design flaws limiting solar electricity production. In January, Bloomberg reported that 23 percent of panels sampled around the country failed to meet China's technical standards. Project owners have also faced interconnection delays, which served to cut installations by 3 gigawatts in 2014 compared to 2013 levels.

New figures from China's National Energy Administration show another problem looming for solar project owners: curtailment.

Across the country, solar power plants are fighting with coal plants for access to the grid while nationwide growth in electricity consumption slows. In many cases, solar is losing. According to Chinese government data released this week, 9 percent of the country's solar output was curtailed through the first half of the year due to grid constraints.

In Gansu province, 28 percent of solar generation never made it onto the grid; in Xinjiang province, 19 percent of solar electricity was cut back.

From January through June, NEA reports that solar projects around the country generated 19 terawatt-hours of electricity.

The capacity installation figures are still strong. In the first half of the year, 7.7 gigawatts of projects were completed -- 6.6 gigawatts of them utility-scale and 1.1 gigawatts distributed.

However, the curtailment issue could cause problems for developers that are already dealing with a slow subsidy distribution process.

"Idle capacity cuts into the feed-in tariff payments that solar plants receive, and indicates there is a larger problem of weak electricity consumption. A miscalculation on demand will undermine the amount gathered for the feed-in tariff surcharge, potentially further delaying payments down the road," said Adam James, a senior analyst at GTM Research focused on global demand.

China's feed-in tariff program is already plagued by administrative delays. Forcing producers to cut back on their generation will make things more financially complicated for project owners.

The problem is not unique to solar. For years, wind producers in China have had trouble connecting to the grid. And when they do connect, the government often forces them to halt electricity production. According to Reuters, one-fifth of China's wind electricity was curtailed in the first three months of 2015.

By 2020, China could be installing 24 gigawatts of solar PV projects yearly, according to GTM Research. But will they be granted access to the grid? That remains uncertain.

"Despite solar receiving strong incentive support and installations reaching record-setting highs, the Chinese electricity market is still grappling with serious structural challenges," said James.

For more on China's complicated solar market, listen to our conversation with Adam James on GTM's Energy Gang podcast:

TAGS :-  Residential Solar Power, Solar Energy Services Company, Solar Power Los Angeles

SunPower’s Global PV Project Pipeline Is More Than 12 Gigawatts

The company’s average solar-cell efficiency is “close to 23 percent.”

Skynet Solar
July 29, 2015




 SunPower's stock is up 10 percent since its second-quarter earnings call this week.

The vertically integrated solar provider achieved three "key milestones" this quarter, according to CEO Tom Werner.
Key milestones

• SunPower and First Solar launched the joint YieldCo 8point3 Energy: SunPower asserts that "8point3 Energy Partners will provide us a significant long-term cost-of-capital advantage and enhance the scale and predictability of our future cash flows."
• SunPower acquired the 1.5-gigawatt U.S. solar project development pipeline of Infigen Energy: The $38 million acquisition included approximately 35 solar projects ranging up to 100 megawatts with project build-out through 2020. Three projects totaling 55 megawatts have PPAs in place with SCE, with completion expected next year. These projects will likely join the "portfolio of potential drop-down assets" for the YieldCo. UBS suggests, "This deal should help SunPower's project pipeline and relieve some concern about the U.S. being a viable market when/if the ITC is reduced. Furthermore, these projects will likely be dropped into CAFD."
• Signed residential solar partnerships with three U.S. utilities: SunPower inked channel partnerships with Dominion Retail and ConEdison Solutions (as well as an undisclosed partner) for the competitive New Jersey and New York electricity markets. ConEdison Solutions is a competitive electricity and natural gas provider and Con Ed's retail arm. SunPower's Werner told GTM that these partnerships are indicators that utilities really want to be involved in solar deployment.

Takeaways from the earnings call

• The U.S. and Japanese markets continue to drive SunPower's distributed generation business.
• SunPower is hitting record yield, with average solar-cell efficiency "close to 23 percent" across all lines.
• The company expects manufacturing to grow to from ~1,500 megawatts this year to almost 2 gigawatts next year. 
• The 579-megawatt Solar Star project for Berkshire Hathaway Energy and SCE is fully grid-connected.
• Signed the largest school-district solar contract in the U.S. with Kern High School District, with 22 megawatts to be deployed over 27 sites
• The company's commercial project pipeline now exceeds $1 billion, and there is talk of the launch of new commercial products.
• Power plants accounted for 43 percent of revenue, residential for 40 percent.
• SunPower will be installing fewer of the C7 concentrators in China this year. 

Chart: SunPower Q2 Financial Results

Bullish solar growth forecastSunPower boosted its megawatts deployment forecast from a CAGR of 25 percent to 30 percent for 2013-2019 (compared to a guidance provided in 2014), with deployments growing from ~1,275 megawatts in 2015 to nearly 4 gigawatts in 2019.

2015 guidance
SunPower anticipates 2015 non-GAAP revenue of $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion, gross margin of 21 percent to 23 percent, and deployments of 1,250 to 1,300 megawatts. For Q3 2015, SunPower expects GAAP revenue of $400 million to $450 million and gross margin of 10 percent to 12 percent. The company will be relying more on the EBITDA metric and expects an EBITDA of $0 to $15 million on 300 to 330 deployed megawatts for the quarter.

The 8point3 YieldCo (CAFD)
UBS suggests that "a frantic M&A methodology would be much more difficult to maintain over the long term. Given [SunPower's] more measured approach to CAFD and decision not to chase accelerated IDR levels, we believe investors will continue to discount the story vs. peers. That said, we see recent success at SunPower in expanding its own backlog and development acquisitions as improving the overall quality and duration of its drop-down backlog, putting CAFD on track to eventually have among the greatest long-term drop-down visibility."

UBS adds that SunPower is "continuing to position [itself] as fundamentally a tech company rather than following its peer SunEdison in redefining as a General Partnership around its YieldCo structure. Rather, SunPower appears to view its CAFD vehicle as the principal, but not necessarily the only, drop-down vehicle, in contrast to other industry peers. Not only are projects outside of the core OECD geographic focus not drop-down candidates, but SunPower anticipates providing modules and developing projects for other industry partners still."

SunPower’s shares traded up about 10 percent today. 

TAGS :- Solar energy services company, Solar System Installers, Solar Power Company

72% of US Residential Solar Installed in 2014 Was Third-Party Owned !

Direct ownership is set to overtake third-party ownership by 2020.

Skynet Solar
July 29, 2015 

 

 

Of the 1.2 gigawatts of residential solar installed in the U.S. last year, 72 percent was third-party owned (TPO) in the form of leases and PPAs. The remainder was directly owned by the customer, much of it through loans. That’s according to the newest report from GTM Research, U.S. Residential Solar Financing 2015-2020.

FIGURE: Residential Third-Party Ownership Penetration and Installations by Ownership Type

Source: GTM Research U.S. Residential Solar Financing 2015-2020

The U.S. residential market segment has grown 15 of the last 16 quarters, and that’s largely due to financing solutions like leases. Since TPO took off a few years ago, the offerings have given customers across many demographics and socioeconomic categories the ability to afford a solar installation.

According to the report, three companies financed 56 percent of all U.S. residential solar installations in 2014. SolarCity led the nation with 34 percent, followed by Vivint Solar’s 12 percent and Sunrun’s 10 percent. Other leading finance providers included SunPower, NRG Home Solar, Sunnova and Clean Power Finance.

FIGURE: Leading U.S. Residential Solar Financiers, 2014

Source: GTM Research U.S. Residential Solar Financing 2015-2020.

Note: Market shares in this figure include each company’s 2014 financed systems (both TPO and direct) as a portion of all 2014 residential installed PV. The report also includes shares of the TPO market alone.

“The solar loan market has exploded,” said Senior Solar Analyst Nicole Litvak. “Every TPO financier has introduced or is planning to introduce a loan, and an entirely separate group of pure-play loan providers has emerged. Many of these new loans are structured such that they offer customers the same year-one savings as a lease or PPA.”

 GTM Research forecasts that by 2020, direct ownership will surpass third-party ownership in the U.S. residential solar market, accounting for 54 percent of the forecasted 5.2-gigawatt market.

The full report provides historical market shares for the top financiers, profiles leading finance providers, and details the market landscape. For more information, visit the report page here.

TAGS:-  Solar Company Los Angeles | Home Solar Power System | Solar Power Company

The Solar Industry Stands Divided Over California’s 50% Renewable Energy Target
The Solar Industry Stands Divided Over California’s 50% Renewable Energy Target.

 These days, it’s rare to see rooftop solar installers and investor-owned utilities aligned on state policy issues. But in California, the two industry groups are both lobbying for behind-the-meter solar to count toward the state’s expanded renewable portfolio standard.

SB 350, the “Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015,” seeks to increase the state’s renewable energy target from 33 percent by 2020, to 50 percent by 2030. It also calls for cutting petroleum use in the transportation sector by half, and doubling the energy efficiency of buildings over the next 15 years.

The bill has already passed the California Senate, and is now making its way through the Assembly.

One of the issues both utilities and solar installers have raised is that distributed solar should not be treated any differently than utility-scale solar as the state crafts the rules around meeting the new 50 percent target. As the RPS stands today, California utilities are only required to buy energy and renewable energy credits (RECs) from utility-scale solar plants.

In a letter to the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce, Southern California Edison wrote, “state policy should not pick technology winners and losers, favoring only utility-scale renewables, and instead must recognize all [greenhouse gas]-reducing strategies toward the state’s ambitious goals, and count renewable distributed generation as a means to achieve the RPS and state climate goals.”

Pacific Gas & Electric has made the same argument, calling on the Assembly to include an amendment that would “expand the scope of eligible renewable resources to include distributed generation facilities such as rooftop solar that the state already acknowledges are renewable, yet do not count toward the RPS goal.”

This change would give utilities more ways to meet the lofty 50 percent RPS goal. It would also give them a potentially more affordable way to meet the goal by leveraging existing and future private investment toward meeting the RPS, rather than necessarily having to contract for new large-scale projects using ratepayer dollars.

"Given significant uncertainty in regulatory policy, we are concerned that failing to give ‘behind-the-meter’ solar equal treatment jeopardizes the future growth of this segment of the industry and could leave hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment on the table,” said The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC), a solar lobbying group, in a letter to the Assembly.

“It’s important to note that California solar customers and solar developers are utilizing private capital, and not ratepayer dollars, to deploy these systems,” the letter added. “We believe that leveling the RPS playing field will increase compliance flexibility and help reduce overall RPS compliance costs as well as help better align utility interest with those of consumers in the deployment of distributed generation.”

Rooftop solar is one of the fastest-growing sources of clean energy in the U.S., especially in California, where there are already 200,000 installed projects and 50,000 people employed by the industry. And yet, according to TASC, California is the only state in the country that does not count distributed solar toward the state’s RPS goal, either through a distributed generation carve-out or by generating RECs.

The issue has made strange bedfellows of power companies and rooftop solar installers, which have clashed in several states over the future of net energy metering. Meanwhile, it has pitted rooftop solar companies against large-scale solar installers, which are actively lobbying against the RPS change.

“The RPS is the single most important driver for wholesale renewables in California, and probably in the country,” said Shannon Eddy, executive director of the Large-Scale Solar Association. “Without the RPS mandate in place, utilities typically don’t buy wholesale renewable energy, so it is one of the only drivers we have available.”

"Keep them in separate programs"
To say that rooftop solar is entirely excluded from the California RPS as it exists today is not entirely accurate. The RPS is divided into three categories, or buckets, and while rooftop solar does not qualify under categories one and two, it is technically able to generate RECs under category three, the “unbundled RECs” category.

“The question is, why do the rooftop advocates want behind-the-meter solar in bucket one?” said Eddy. “It will in no way affect rooftop purchasing behavior, but it will dampen the wholesale market.”

“This isn't an either-or conversation -- we need all of it, we need as much solar on-line from rooftop and wholesale to meet our climate goals, and the best way to do that is to keep them in separate programs,” she said.

The controversy here is that utilities are not required to buy RECs from customer-sited projects under category three, whereas they are required to buy energy and RECs from utility-scale projects under category one.

Equally important is that category three RECs have been eligible for a dwindling share of annual REC compliance obligations. In the final 2017-2020 timeframe of the RPS, category three RECs can account for 10 percent or less of the compliance requirements. Over the same period, category one projects must account for 70 percent or more of the requirements.

If distributed solar projects were allowed to produce RECs under bucket one, it would serve as an additional income stream for the industry -- and a potentially pivotal income stream, with the federal Investment Tax Credit set to expire at the end of 2016.

“The rooftop solar industry is a startup industry that needs certainty in order to thrive,” wrote Lauren Randall, manager of public policy at Sunrun, in an email. “If we don't count rooftop solar, we're putting the industry at risk. That means putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk, and jeopardizing a resource that delivers significant water savings during a time of major drought.”

This week, SB 350 passed in the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources and was transferred to the Appropriations Committee. The bill has been amended to require the Public Utilities Commission to consider the economic and environmental benefits of distributed solar. The PUC may also authorize utilities to procure a certain percent of their retail sales from onsite generation to meet local electricity needs, but the bill leaves that percent figure blank.

The amendments will help to move the conversation forward, but the issue of giving rooftop solar equal standing with utility-scale solar under RPS has yet to be resolved. California's legislative session ends on September 11.
Residential Solar Power system in California.
 

Con Edison: Utility Ownership of Large-Scale Renewables Will Drive Down Costs

Con Edison’s Christopher Raup argues that utilities can operate projects at a much lower cost to ratepayers.







New York is aggressively pursuing more renewable energy and has set a challenging target of 50 percent renewable energy by 2030, twice the amount installed in the state now.

Con Edison is willing to play an active role in achieving this goal, including accepting an obligation to procure renewable energy for its customers. Meeting this goal will require an “all-of-the-above” strategy that must include adding large-scale renewable resources such as solar and wind farms.

But it will also force us to answer an important question: Is it better to rent renewable energy projects from third-party developers or to have utilities own those assets for the benefit of all electric customers?

Over the past 10 years, Americans have consistently supported renewable energy. Surveys find that a majority of Americans believe the country should place more emphasis on developing solar and wind resources.

Utilities are stewards of critical energy infrastructure, and their value should not be overlooked when it comes to developing large-scale renewables.

Smaller distributed renewables and large-scale renewables are complementary resources in the state’s clean energy portfolio. Both types of resources will be needed, and New York is now considering its next-generation policy options for developing large-scale renewables. Distributed renewables can provide load relief and serve as alternatives to traditional utility investments; larger, grid-scale projects are a cost-effective way to reduce carbon emissions.

The good news is that utility ownership on behalf of customers is being discussed. The bad news is that the state is still considering procuring large-scale renewables using long-term power-purchase agreements (PPAs) between utilities and third-party developers.

Con Edison believes customers would benefit most if utilities could competitively solicit renewable energy developers to design and construct projects, and then purchase and own the projects on behalf of customers.  Our analysis shows that utility ownership can be up to 30 percent less expensive for customers than a PPA with a utility.

There is hidden value in the renewable energy market that policymakers leave on the table when they focus on PPAs with utilities.

Here's a simple way to think about it: is it better to rent or own an asset that will be needed over a long period of time? Owning would be cheaper.

Utility ownership is preferable because it allows customers to benefit directly in future asset valuation, one of the reasons that utility ownership is less expensive than utility-backed PPAs.

Low cost of capital is the key to reducing costs for customers in a capital-intensive industry. Utilities have access to low-cost capital, and financing renewable energy as efficiently as possible should be a primary policy goal.

While developers of renewable energy can secure competitive financing with a utility-backed PPA, their ability to secure it exists because lenders see the contract as supported by utility credit. In essence, it’s the same as the utility financing the project itself.

But with a PPA, any future value from the renewable resource accrues to the developer and not to customers. In addition, if utilities own renewable energy projects, the state will be assured access to those projects -- whereas developers can sell the output of projects they own to out-of-state entities once their initial PPA ends.

There are also other downsides associated with PPAs, since these contracts could reduce the utility’s credit rating, raising costs for all utility customers.

A better model is one that takes advantage of the project design, development and construction skills of renewable energy developers and the low cost of financing and rewards for customers of utility ownership. Utilities can manage solicitations for renewable energy projects from developers who compete to develop, build and commission the projects, and then turn to utilities for ownership and maintenance.

Additionally, the utility as owner can auction off the renewable energy to large customers with business sustainability goals, further reducing the cost of renewable ownership for customers.

Leveraging the capabilities of both renewable energy developers and utilities will help the state meet its renewable energy goals at a lower cost than other models. And that’s worth pursuing for everyone’s benefit.
Los Angels Solar System and Solar System Installation in California.

Utility Solar May Cost Less, But It’s Also Worth Less

John Farrell disputes a new study showing that utility-scale solar is the cheapest option.





 A new report released last week asserts that utility-scale solar is much more economical than small-scale solar. The clear implication is that we should let incumbent utilities build or buy solar from large-scale arrays instead of allowing customers to generate their own power.

There are several reasons to seriously question the mistaken assertion that big solar is better.

Follow the money
First, this study is funded, in part, by the Edison Electric Institute. The Institute is the for-profit utility trade group whose 2013 report on “disruptive challenges” suggests, among other things, that utilities have to fight back against distributed solar energy as a revenue threat. Their members include many utilities proposing or implementing higher charges on their customers to make small solar less economical. In other words, the sponsors of this study have a financial interest in slowing the growth of small-scale solar.

Second, the report is prepared for First Solar, a Wal-Mart-family-supported solar developer that views rooftop solar as a competitive threat to its utility-scale solar business. In other words, the study was commissioned by a company whose financial interest is in reducing competition from small-scale solar.

Question the assumptions
In theory, we could find objective study results despite biased funders, but you won’t find them here. Let’s talk about a few of the titanic omissions in the study's comparison of large- and small-scale solar.

Utility-scale solar and residential solar aren’t comparable on a levelized-cost basis, because only one delivers power at the point of use (residential solar). Utility-scale solar has to get to customers, and that requires access to (and often construction of) high-voltage transmission infrastructure that is not only controversial, but expensive.

The following chart, based on a Clean Coalition analysis from 2011, shows that transmission costs for large-scale solar projects can outweigh the economies of scale that come from their large size.

 Cost can be higher, but value is lower for solar energy from centralized solar arrays. For example, numerous studies on the value of solar energy (and one state law) illustrate the particular grid benefits of distributed solar that utility-scale doesn’t provide, including reduced line losses, deferred distribution system maintenance, avoided transmission capital expense, and increased resiliency.

It’s not just a theory; it’s an industry practice. When Geronimo Energy pitched Xcel Energy on 100 megawatts of new solar capacity in Minnesota, the company promised to build it in chunks of 2 megawatts to 10 megawatts each that it asserts “will deliver many benefits, including a reduction in line loss, elimination of transmission costs, and geographic diversification of generation assets.”

The following chart, illustrating Minnesota’s value-of-solar formula, shows particular values that only apply to distributed solar like that on residential rooftops.

 

 Distributed solar also has substantial economic benefits of interest to electric customers, if not their monopoly utilities. For example, 1 megawatt of solar that is locally owned rather than utility-owned means as much as $5.7 million in lifetime economic benefits for a community. And the dramatic rise in residential and commercial rooftop solar arrays suggests electric customers see a clear economic opportunity in generating their own power.

Question the purpose
It’s tempting to accept the assertion that bigger is better, especially for environmentalists seeking the most rapid transition to clean energy. But the truth is that distributed solar competes on cost and value, and it’s a faster way to a cleaner power sector.

Look no further than world-leader Germany, where more than 25 percent of annual electricity production comes from renewable energy, 7 percent from solar alone. The vast majority of German solar arrays (70 percent) are 500 kilowatts or smaller (less than the size of an Ikea rooftop).

In contrast, the splashy 550-megawatt Topaz Solar Array took seven years to develop and construct, during which time over 8,000 megawatts of distributed residential and commercial solar were installed in the U.S. Don’t forget that, like Germany, thousands of these distributed solar arrays are locally owned, widely distributing the economic benefits of the clean energy transformation.

The issue of economic benefits may be the central point. Utility-scale solar safely fits within the antiquated 20th century centralized monopoly model of electricity delivery, insulating utilities from innovative customer-centered distributed power. In fact, a late 2014 study highlighted that net metering of distributed solar is a minor threat to ratepayers, but a much more significant threat to utility shareholders.

There’s nothing wrong with building utility-scale solar. But let’s be clear: it’s neither the most economic nor the fastest way to green the electricity sector, and it cements centralized control of electricity system in an era of widespread decentralized innovation. And that may be too high a price to pay.

Solar Energy in Los Angels Services Company.
 

Solar-powered plane lands in Hawaii after record 5-day flight from Japan

Pilot Andre Borschberg and his single-seat aircraft landed at Kalaeloa, a small airport outside Honolulu. His 120-hour voyage from Nagoya broke the record for the world's longest nonstop solo flight, his team said. The late U.S. adventurer Steve Fossett set the previous record of 76 hours when he flew a specially designed jet around the globe in 2006.

But Borschberg flew the Solar Impulse 2 without fuel. Instead, its wings were equipped with 17,000 solar cells that charged batteries. The plane ran on stored energy at night.

The plane's ideal flight speed is about 28 mph though that can double during daylight hours. The carbon-fiber aircraft weighs over 5,000 pounds, or about as much as a minivan.

Borschberg and his co-pilot Bertrand Piccard have been taking turns flying the plane on an around-the-world trip since taking off from Abu Dhabi in March. After Hawaii, it will head to Phoenix and then New York.
lRelated SpaceX failure tests its bold agenda

The project, which began in 2002 and is estimated to cost more than $100 million, is aimed at highlighting the importance of renewable energy and the spirit of innovation. Solar-powered air travel is not yet commercially practical, however, given the slow travel time, weather and weight constraints of the aircraft.

The plane is visiting Hawaii just as the state has embarked on its own ambitious clean energy project. Gov. David Ige last month signed legislation directing Hawaii's utilities to generate 100% of their electricity from renewable energy resources by 2045. The utilities get 21% of their power from renewable sources.

Borschberg took naps and practiced yoga to cope with the long hours.

"Yoga is a huge support for this flight above the Pacific: it positively affects my mood and mindset," he wrote in a tweet from the plane on Thursday.


Solar System L.A Installers.

Solar Impulse 2 plane grounded in Hawaii until 2016

 A solar-powered plane attempting to fly around the world will be grounded in Hawaii until April for battery repairs.

The plane, called Solar Impulse 2, recently completed the longest leg of its global flight -- a five-day, five-night journey from Nagoya, Japan, to Hawaii. During that trip, the plane's batteries overheated and sustained "irreversible" damage, according to a statement from the team.

The next leg of the journey, which would have taken the plane to Phoenix, was set for as early as this week. The team said the temperature of the batteries during quick ascents and descents in a tropical climate was "not properly anticipated."

"The damage to the batteries is not a technical failure or a weakness in the technology," the team said. "Setbacks are part of the challenges of a project which is pushing technological boundaries to the limits."
Solar Impulse 2 weighs about as much as a car and has a wingspan larger than that of a standard Boeing 747. The wings contain 17,000 solar cells that power four electric motors. The solar cells recharge lithium batteries that allow the plane to fly at night.
The repairs will take several months, and the plane's engineering team will be researching new options for better cooling and heating during long flights.

Even before the battery repairs, the plane faced some setbacks. The first leg of the Pacific flight was delayed by more than a month because of weather problems, and after finally taking off from Nanjing, China, in May en route to Hawaii, the plane landed in Nagoya due to bad weather.

The 13-leg journey started in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in early March.

Solar Company California L.A

New Policy Makes California Power Companies Shocked and Furious

Do NOT pay your next electric bill until you read this…






(Los Angeles): This is the 1 simple truth your power company doesn’t want you to know. If you currently own a home and reside in a qualified zip code, you could be eligible to get an extremely huge discount on your energy bill. But do you think your power company will tell you that? I bet not.

The trick to saving money is actually pretty simple. In fact, it’s so simple that energy companies go to a lot of effort to hide it from you and hope that you never find out. We’re referring to a revolutionary new type of solar panel that smart consumers are now using to help power their houses and save huge amounts of money.

When residents visit the Home Solar Rebates website and enter some basic contact information, the results can be pretty shocking. The truth is people say it‘s possible to save 50% on their energy bills due to recent energy policy changes. When we heard about these claims, we decided to investigate it for ourselves.

Our in house financial team set out to test this new service and after a few days of research what they found was very exciting. Our team discovered that not only were these claims true, but that many home owners ended up saving over $800 a year on their energy bill compared to what they were previously paying. They also found that many other people are indeed able to save similar amounts.

Are you being scammed by your power company? Our research indicates that many people are being misled by their current power company into thinking that they are required to use their services when in fact, they could be using solar panels to cut down on costs! When one of our team members confronted their power company about this, they were told that “because every house is different, we weren’t sure if your house would work with this type of program.” Yeah, right.

 

You are NOT locked into your current energy provider. Once you get your solar power, you will end up owning it!

Since homeowners average savings are up to 70%, it’s no wonder services like these are growing rapidly. Our research concluded that Home Solar Rebates [link] is one of the most reliable, trusted services and highly effective tools to provide consumers with low rates.

We thank Home Solar Rebates for providing such an amazing service with an honest effort to saving money for families across America. You can click here if you would like to use the online tool to enjoy the benefits of this free service. Simply take a few seconds and enter some basic information to gain access to the system’s no obligation quotes.

Home Los Angels Solar Power System.

Land speculators see silver lining in solar projects

For Sale: 3,400 acres in the desert.

• No paved roads. Check.

• Isolated. Ideal.

• Land not suitable for farming. Perfect.

• Blistering sunshine. Jackpot.

• Asking price: $34 million. Deal.

As large-scale solar development has spooled out into Southwestern deserts, the modern-day gold rush is about more than renewable energy. Solar companies and land speculators are gobbling up scarce private land in the California deserts, driving prices up 10- to 20-fold, or even higher.

Desolate acreage that a few years ago might have sold for less than $500 an acre can now fetch as much as $20,000 an acre, according to land brokers in the region. Farmers are also getting in on the action. Alfalfa and cotton fields are being converted to solar and wind farms as the industry's big players put together mega-deals.
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"It's mind-boggling what's happening," said Jean Laborde of Bakersfield, a former farmer who has been selling agricultural land in the Mojave and adjacent Colorado deserts for 45 years.

Laborde has made a killing lately. About 10 years ago, one of his clients listed 750 barren acres near the town of Mojave, but Laborde couldn't sell it. He finally bought the land himself for $350 an acre. "There's no water, the wind blows all the time," he said. "Everyone said this was a Godforsaken place."

Laborde held on to the property, then sold it a few years ago to someone who intended to build a solar power plant. Laborde won't disclose what the developer paid, but the price today would be $10,000 an acre, he said. "Turned out to be the best deal I ever made."
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Real estate specialists warn that not all desert landowners will enjoy a similar payday, but try telling that to old-timers who hear about deals that have turned farmers into millionaires. A recent example is the family of alfalfa growers in Gila Bend, Ariz., who sold 3,000 acres of cropland to a consortium of investors, who then sold the land to Spanish solar giant Abengoa for $45 million.

Earlier this year Ari Swiller, who heads aLos Angeles-based renewable energy company, quietly gathered up 11,000 acres near Blythe — the largest aggregation of separate parcels the Riverside County assessor's office has seen in 15 years. Although the property hasn't been resold, Riverside County Assessor Larry W. Ward said land in the area that typically sells in "the low hundreds" per acre is now going for $2,000 to $3,000 an acre.

That part of the state offers what solar developers require: mostly flat land near transmission lines, and reliable sunshine. Depending on the size of the plant, companies may need a few hundred or a few thousand acres.

Most of the utility-scale solar farms sprouting in the desert are on federal land, which companies lease for a nominal yearly rate. But some developers prefer private property, even at high prices, because public land carries a thick sediment of bureaucracy: a snarl of federal and state environmental laws that requires time-consuming and expensive analysis before the first shovel of dirt is turned.

Private land carries few similar impediments. As long as the parcel holds no cultural resources or protected species, a solar developer can move quickly and avoid costly construction delays.

Solar companies covet private land for another reason. If a renewable energy project on public or private property compromises habitat for endangered species, the developer must buy biologically suitable private land to account for that loss. The Ivanpah Solar Project, for example, requires that Oakland-based developer BrightSource buy 7,000 acres to replace habitat for the threatened desert tortoise.

Solar companies are reluctant to speak publicly about land prices, partly out of fear that they will inflame an already overheated market. Developers try to fly beneath the real estate radar, often buying contiguous parcels under different names or through third parties to avoid igniting a land rush.

Most hire brokers or land scouts who bump along dirt roads trolling for cheap land. They, too, operate quietly and seldom disclose whom they represent.

John Reeder, a land broker with Sperry Van Ness in Ontario, said the market has spawned speculators, "investors who have purchased or control options on land, whose only plan was to sell to a solar company."

The high-priced sales have longtime landowners salivating. But despite the talk of a land rush, most are still waiting to score.

In 1948, Russ Roberts' great-grandfather bought 565 acres of desert scrub near Baker. Roberts said his ancestor was convinced that with the growth of Las Vegas, land along the highway from Los Angeles would become prized.

The gamble hasn't really paid off for Roberts' family, although now, with renewable energy developers calling, they have hope. The family is asking $7,000 an acre.

"We get a lot of tire-kickers," Roberts said. "Calls from big companies in Germany. Nothing solid yet, though."

Bobby Miller handled the $45-million transaction in Gila Bend, a farming outpost in the Sonoran Desert southwest of Phoenix. But he is dismissive of the idea that everyone with a few acres of dusty ground is going to get rich selling to big solar.

"The sale gave everyone the hope that their parcels would be like this," said Miller, who has trademarked the nickname "Dr. Dirt" and has the seen-it-all weariness of someone who has surfed dozens of boom and bust cycles. "I think they are dreaming. I can sell you lots of bulk acreage at $800 an acre."

Other real estate specialists warn that many sales collapse at the last minute as solar developers find that their projects don't pencil out, often because government incentives or power purchase agreements don't come through.

To meet the exceptionally high front-end costs, solar developers are dependent on federal loan guarantees, tax rebates and other subsidies to finance construction of multibillion-dollar solar plants. Renewable energy subsidies have been accelerated by the Obama administration, and the land-buying frenzy is in part caused by the approaching end of some federal incentives.

The complexities involved in solar projects have made for an uncertain market. Larry Cullinane, who has been selling land near Hesperia since 1975, estimated that 90% of all solar land deals fall apart in the first year, leaving the seller to start over with little more than a deposit.

"One of my clients has had close to $200 million fall out of solar contracts for various reasons," he said. "In most cases it's a financial scenario. Some of the owners get fed up with dealing with the solar developers."

Buyers, too, have reason for skepticism. As California homeowners know from painful experience, runaway real estate prices carry a risk. Prices have risen so sharply and sales have been so spotty that establishing the true value of raw desert land is difficult.

Cullinane said two of his clients, brothers in their 80s, own 640 acres they have farmed and grazed since 1940. The men bought the property for $10,000, and are today asking $3.5 million.
lRelated Sacrificing the desert to save the Earth

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The plot is good for solar, but it is 21/2 miles from the nearest transmission line. Cullinane thinks the price is about double its true value — although a naive buyer or a speculator might think otherwise.

Cullinane and some of his peers in the Mojave have also spotted a niche in the solar market: desert tortoise mitigation land. Cullinane now judges land according to how suitable it would be to relocate the tortoise. Class 1 mitigation land goes for $1,200 an acre, he said, while the best-quality habitat might bring $3,000 to $5,000 an acre.

"Just in the Mojave, I've got 20,000 acres, and in Kern County I've got about 15,000 acres for potential mitigation property," Cullinane said.

If large-scale solar projects continue to proliferate in the heart of the tortoise habitat, and with companies required to find two to three acres of habitat for each acre they displace, a reasonable question becomes whether enough private land exists in the Southern California desert to cover the loss.

Less than 17% of the Mojave's 20 million acres is private property.

Janine Blaeloch, director of the Western Lands Project, calls this the elephant in the room of the tortoise mitigation program.
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"Just take a look — there just isn't enough land for them to find and buy," she said. "It's the fatal flaw."

julie.cart@latimes.com

Los Angeles Times researcher Maloy Moore contributed to this report.

THE SOLAR DESERT / One in a series of occasional articles chronicling the wide-ranging effects on the West of the emerging solar-energy industry.


Residential Solar Power Los Angels

L.A. launches streamlined permitting system for solar panels online

The city of Los Angeles has launched an online permitting system for solar panels, seeking to streamline the process and reduce costs for homeowners.
lRelated DWP is still slow to turn on home solar energy systems
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    DWP is still slow to turn on home solar energy systems

Previously, those installing the systems had to go to a Department of Building and Safety office, with plans in hand, to apply for a permit, then wait days for approval, said department spokesman Luke Zamperini.

But now, it's possible to receive permits for solar photovoltaic systems directly from the department's website, the mayor’s office said in a news release this week.

At the moment, the online permit system can process 75% of all solar photovoltaic permits for single-family homes and duplexes, according to the mayor’s office.  By the end of the year, the system is expected to handle 95% of permits.

Since launching the system as a pilot program in July, the department has issued more than 250 permits.


Building and Safety inspectors have also received additional training which allows them, instead of the Fire Department, to verify certain requirements --a  streamlining that the mayor’s office says will reduce time and costs for homeowners.

"The work done by the Department of Building and Safety, together with ongoing customer service improvements for solar customers underway at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, will cut costs and help create local jobs in the city’s growing solar installation industry," Garcetti said in a news release.

Bernadette Del Chiaro, the executive director of California Solar Energy Industries Assn., praised the permitting changes at the Building and Safety Department, but added that it is “is only half the equation in Los Angeles.”

“The other half is at the Department of Water and Power, which approves both the rebate for the rooftop solar system as well as the interconnection inspection and approval,” she said in an email.

In February, the Los Angeles Times reported that it took the DWP at least 12 to 13 weeks to approve and inspect rooftop panels for homeowners -- roughly five times what it was then taking in San Diego and Sacramento.

The DWP acknowledged that it needed to do better and in March announced plans to double its staff for rebate processing, hire more workers for its hotline and look for other ways to improve its approval process.

The agency said the average time frame for most customers in early August was down to eight to nine weeks.

But late last month, The Times reported that some frustrated customers were waiting far longer to get their solar panels up and running.

The delays and Los Angeles' onerous approval process hampered solar installations, homeowners and industry officials said.

The mayor's office, in the news release, said DWP workers are undergoing more training as the department moves solar approvals from "a boutique to a standard service." That, the mayor's office said, should reduce times for connecting solar panels to the electric grid.

Times staff writer Chad Garland contributed to this report.


Solar energy services in L.A

Program gets solar power to residents in struggling Fresno neighborhoods

A new state program uses cap-and-trade money to fund energy efficiency home upgrades in some of what Cal-EPA calls the Valley’s most environmentally burdened neighborhoods.

By Andrea Castillo and Mark Grossi - The Fresno Bee

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•  New program uses cap-and-trade money to fund energy efficiency home upgrades
•  California Environmental Protection Agency ranks many Fresno neighborhoods among the riskiest places to live
•  Savings will put Salvador Mendoza of southeast Fresno closer to affording expensive medication

———

Southeast Fresno resident Salvador Mendoza can’t afford the $2,000-a-month medication for his lung disease, but starting Thursday he will be closer to relief.

Mendoza’s family is one of 20 in Fresno expected to receive a rooftop solar panel system courtesy of a pilot program aimed at helping poor, vulnerable communities save money on electricity costs while combating climate change. The silver panels reflected under the Wednesday morning sun, shining brightly on the rooftop. The installation will be completed today.

Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission is managing the program statewide through the California Department of Community Services and Development. The pilot aims to install more than 100 SunPower Corporation solar panel systems in Fresno, Sacramento, Merced, Madera, Tulare and Los Angeles counties.

The California Environmental Protection Agency ranks the Mendozas’ neighborhood among the riskiest places in the state to live, making it eligible for money to install greenhouse gas reduction measures, such as solar panels.

Fresno alone has more than a dozen of the worst 20 places, primarily downtown, south and west. Other San Joaquin Valley hot spots include neighborhoods in Madera, Merced and Tulare counties.

Broken down by census tracts, Cal-EPA analyzed environmental risks throughout California. The analysis, called CalEnviro Screen, looks at more than 20 risk factors, including poverty, education, unemployment, air pollution and drinking water.

The lowest-ranking areas are called disadvantaged communities — places where life expectancy is often much lower than in more affluent areas. The state will spend $75 million for solar panels and energy efficiencies in these areas this year.

Officials say 1,780 low-income homes statewide are expected to receive rooftop solar panel systems through this funding. Those homes make up a portion of the 17,700 homes in disadvantaged communities receiving energy efficient upgrades, such as insulation, low-flow shower heads and energy-efficient lighting. Another 90 homes in Fresno and 800 statewide will get solar hot water heaters, piloted through a separately funded program last year.

“This is a real, tangible benefit for disadvantaged communities,” said Arsenio Mataka, Cal-EPA assistant secretary for environmental justice and tribal affairs.

The money comes from the state’s cap-and trade-program to reduce greenhouse gases. The state sets a cap for emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Businesses that can’t achieve the cap must buy credits from businesses that have made more than enough reductions.

The state now has more than $800 million to invest in energy efficiency, public transit, affordable housing and other greenhouse gas-cutting measures. At least 25% of it must be used to help the most disadvantaged communities.

“These investments will help power a brighter, healthier and more prosperous future for Fresno and for cities like it across California,” said Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, who was scheduled to attend a public unveiling of the project today.

Wednesday morning in one of Fresno’s most pollution-burdened communities, Mendoza sat in his living room clad in a cowboy hat and jeans. The 66-year-old spent most of his life as a farmworker before getting a job at a metal recycling plant in Fresno around eight years ago.

He didn’t expect to end up jobless and suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a life-threatening disease that impedes his ability to breathe. He also has a fungal infection in his lungs.

Reyna Mendoza worries about her father’s disease and how they will afford the medication to extend his life.

“If this illness progresses, there will come a time when he cannot breathe anymore,” she said in Spanish.

Until late last year, there was no treatment for the disease. The Federal Drug Administration recently approved two drugs shown to significantly slow its progression.

But the combo costs $90,000 per year. Insurance will cover all but $2,000 a month for one. Mendoza can’t afford even that. He lives on about $1,800 per month from Social Security and unemployment benefits after losing his job when the disease progressed.

Mendoza lives with his wife Ricarda and her 85-year-old mother. Ricarda Mendoza, 61, works at a packinghouse, making about $7,000 for the season. The family’s income stretches enough to pay for necessities. They are applying for assistance to cover Salvador Mendoza’s medication through a chronic illness support organization.

The Mendozas applied for the solar panel program after hearing about it through a friend of their son who works for Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

The family expects to save about 75% on their electricity bills — more than $1,000 per year. The savings won’t cover Salvador Mendoza’s medications, but they are a start.

“I am glad,” Ricarda Mendoza said in Spanish, “because now we will have more money for my husband’s medical expenses.”

Home Solar Power in Los Angels.

Largest Solar Plant On Planet Earth — Solar Star — Comes Online

I know, I know. All our heart goes out to distributed solar, but utility-scale solar installations in the United States are very much alive and kicking. In fact, of the 6 GW of new solar capacity added in the US during 2014, 63% of it came from utility-scale plants.

This included two mammoth projects — Topaz Solar and Desert Sunlight — 550 MW each, both developed by First Solar. However, both of these plants could not, as the phrase goes, “bask in the sunshine” even for a year (actually not even seven months).

The Solar Star solar power plant, with a total capacity of 579 MW, went fully online on June 19, 2015, as per the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). For now, it is the largest solar power plant in the world, with a lead of 29 MW over its closest competitors.

 

BHE Solar, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy (known as MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company until 2014, one of the investment arms of Warren Buffet) owns the projects. SunPower Corporation, which is the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for Solar Star, will also cater to its operations and maintenance.

Our regular readers would be aware that BHE also owns the Topaz Solar plant.

The electricity produced by Solar Star is being purchased by the utility Southern California Edison under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA). The specifics of the agreement haven’t been publicly disclosed.

Quite interestingly, at the moment, the world’s three largest solar plants — Solar Star, Desert Sunlight, and the Topaz project — are all located in California, USA.

Solar Star, which was formerly called Antelope Valley Solar Projects, is actually two projects — Solar Star 1 and Solar Star 2 — co-located in Kern and Los Angeles Counties in California, USA. Installed across 3,230 acres, the projects employ 1.7 million SunPower monocrystalline silicon PV panels.

The construction for the project started in January 2013, and was scheduled for completion towards the end of 2015, so it’s quite a feat that they could manage to wrap up 6 months ahead of schedule!

The Solar Star Projects will deliver enough electricity to power the equivalent of approximately 255,000 homes. The projects have also created approximately 650 construction jobs over a 3-year construction period. In addition to this, up to 40 operations and maintenance jobs, including 15 full-time site positions, will be created during the life of the project.

In terms of emissions, more than 570,000 tons of carbon dioxide will be avoided annually — the equivalent of removing over 2 million cars from the road over 20 years (source).

The plant is built on what SunPower calls “Oasis Power Plant” technology. Essentially, to cash in on the large-scale plant (and thus, the opportunity), a modular design is used for rapid deployment. Per the company, this helps save money, time, and land resources as well.

Each 1 MW “power block” integrates SunPower Trackers with SunPower solar panels, pre-manufactured system cabling, an inverter, and a power plant operating system. The power block kits are shipped pre-assembled to the job site for rapid field installation.

Since cleaning such a large facility would otherwise consume a lot of water, and time, SunPower has automated the process. This, the company claims, will consume 90% less water and is 4 times faster than manual cleaning methods (more information here).

The projects also employ SunPower C1 Trackers (single-axis), which are said to boost annual energy yield by 25% as against fixed-tilt systems. The tracker uses a single motor to control many rows.

According to data released by the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research over the 2014 performance of the US solar market, the utility PV segment is becoming more competitive. The report points out that more than 4 GW of centralized PV capacity had been procured by utilities based on solar’s competitiveness with natural-gas alternatives.

2015 is expected to be another good year for utility-scale solar in the US. However, there are concerns that the aggregate net energy metering (NEM) capacity limit in California could be reached by the last quarter of 2015 or early 2016. As a result, installers are pushing to expedite sales through the first half of 2015.

Once the cap is reached, the next version of NEM is scheduled to take effect — although, decisions regarding NEM rule revisions could be announced by the CPUC as late as December 2015.

So, which would be the next plant to clinch the title? There are a few probables in the runup – here, here, and here), but your guess is as good as mine.

Want to know what 579 MW of solar awesomeness looks like? Open up Google maps on this link and see it for yourself!

Photo Credits: Solar Star Project Layout via SunPower, Solar Star Satellite View via Google Maps

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Residential Solar Power In L.A.
 

Inside the World’s Largest Solar Power Plant

The Desert Sunlight Solar Farm is a burst of energy in the Mojave Desert

At the edge of the Mojave Desert, about 80 miles (130 km) east of Palm Springs, Calif., millions of midnight blue solar panels stretch to the horizon, angled toward the sky like reclining sunbathers. Here, the sun has few enemies. It shines at least 300 days of the year, bathing the more than 8 million photovoltaic (PV) panels at the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm in daylong streams of rays. All that free sunlight is converted into electricity that flows into California’s thirsty power grid, eventually helping charge iPhones in Los Angeles and switch on TVs in Sacramento.

The possibility of solar power on such a massive scale seemed remote just a decade ago. Solar was seen as a small solution to small problems, a novel way for your environmentally minded neighbor to show off his green credentials, yet too expensive to ever be economical. But that’s changed as a dramatic increase in solar-panel production–brought about by a global expansion in manufacturing capacity–has sent costs plummeting. Increasingly efficient second-generation solar technology can squeeze more energy from the sun’s rays at a lower cost, and the federal government has opened vast tracts of public land to massive for-profit ventures like Desert Sunlight.

As a result, solar power in America has officially grown up. The two largest solar power plants in the world—Desert Sunlight and Topaz Solar Farm, about 400 miles (640 km) to the west in central California—have come online in the past three months. While the first U.S. solar plant, built in 1982, generated 1 megawatt of electricity, Desert Sunlight generates 550 megawatts. Topaz produces the same amount. Together their impact on carbon emissions is equivalent to taking 130,000 cars off the road while providing 340,000 homes with clean energy. “These projects [are] the first utility-scale projects that are really on the scale of a conventional coal or nuclear power plant,” says Harry Atwater, a professor of applied physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Utility-scale solar plants were nowhere to be found on public lands just a few years ago, in part because it was too costly to build them. Desert Sunlight, which was officially dedicated Feb. 9 on 3,800 acres (1,540 hectares) of land administered by the Bureau of Land Management, is now the sixth operational solar plant on federal property. Twenty-nine other solar projects have been approved for public lands, and eight are currently under construction in California and Nevada. And there’s room for more. The federal government administers almost 250 million acres (101 million hectares) of U.S. territory, roughly one-ninth of the country, most of it in the West and much of it desert with abundant sunlight—perfect for millions of photon-hungry solar panels.

“When the [Obama] Administration came on board, it was clear that clean energy was a priority,” says Ray Brady, manager of the National Renewable Energy Office for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), who notes that the Department of the Interior met its target of generating 10,000 megawatts of solar energy in 2012, three years ahead of schedule. (The department has approved more than 16,000 solar megawatts.) “Desert Sunlight was very important in meeting that goal.”

But getting the location right was critical. Utility-scale solar plants need to be somewhere with year-round sun, in a space large enough to hold hundreds of thousands of solar modules but close enough to civilization to easily connect to the energy grid. Desert Sunlight sits just outside Desert Center (pop. 204), a tiny town southeast of Joshua Tree National Park. Average high temperature in July: 104°F (40°C). In January: 65°F (18°C). Average annual rainfall: 4 in. (10 cm). “It’d be safe to say just about every day you’re going to get some sunlight,” says Steve Krum, a spokesman for First Solar, which built and operates the plant.

The site’s millions of 2-by-4-ft. (0.6 by 1.2 m) panels are each covered by a thin film of glass that absorbs sunlight and captures electrons, creating an electrical current that flows into wires in the back of each module. That energy is converted from DC power into usable AC power by inverters and is sent to the electrical grid via a nearby substation. Each panel generates approximately 90 to 100 watts.

Desert Sunlight originated at a time when engineers were just figuring out how to produce solar panels on a mass scale. In the past, panels were often made using silicon, which tended to yield more energy but were expensive and difficult to mass-produce. But First Solar, which is based in Tempe, Ariz., and bought the rights to Desert Sunlight in 2010, has shied away from silicon and instead produces “thin-film” panels made with cadmium telluride, which can be cheaper than silicon but less efficient in converting sunlight into energy.

The favorable economics of thin-film PV work only if silicon remains expensive. In 2011, the price of silicon began falling rapidly, as cheap, government-subsidized Chinese PV panels flooded the market. Solyndra, a solar-energy company championing what it believed were innovative and more efficient panels made of cylindrical tubes, became a punching bag for conservatives after cheap silicon forced the company to declare bankruptcy in 2011 despite a $500 million loan guarantee from the federal government. But First Solar, which makes its solar modules in the U.S. and Malaysia, is betting on its automated, in-house production and less-expensive components to insulate it from fluctuations in the market. The company also successfully increased its panels’ energy output, recording the highest efficiency standards so far for any thin-film technology.

A New Model

Judging by its scale and location on thousands of acres of public land, Desert Sunlight seems like other sprawling, ambitious government projects before it, a Hoover Dam for the age of climate change. But the development of the plant says a lot about the new way many public-works projects are built in the U.S. today.

Desert Sunlight was the brainchild of private firm OptiSolar (later acquired by First Solar), which saw a market opportunity in helping California’s utility companies meet tough state mandates to produce a third of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. (The state currently gets 20% of its energy from renewables.) Desert Sunlight was supported by a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy worth $1.5 billion, but the plant is owned by NextEra Energy Resources, GE Energy Financial Services and Sumitomo Corporation of America, while the actual facility was built by First Solar. That means the world’s largest solar farm was conceived by private business that profited from tighter state environmental regulations, with their costs underwritten in part by a federal incentive program.

It’s a model that appears to be paying off. Solar is now a $15 billion business in the U.S., employing more people than coal mining, even as costs continue to decrease. Solar panels, for example, are twice as cheap as they were four years ago. In 2014, solar energy accounted for 36% of the country’s installed new energy capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. “It’s hard to convey how this industry has gone from being like a small jewelry business to a bricks-and-mortar paving business,” Atwater says. “And when Desert Sunlight was conceived, I think people thought it was this ambitious California thing to do and wasn’t very economical. But now it’s economical.”

The Future of Solar

The big question is whether projects this large are sustainable. As the price of oil and natural gas continues to drop, solar energy looks less desirable as other sources become more affordable in the short term. First Solar’s stock, for example, has dipped as oil prices have decreased. The BLM’s Brady says that while there are a number of solar projects in the works, applications for large projects on federal lands have fallen significantly.

Federal support is also drying up. A 30% federal investment tax credit will decrease to 10% by 2016. California, meanwhile, is on track to meet the state-mandated standards of 33% renewable energy by 2020. But once it does, that could reduce the incentive to continue producing solar in the state unless a tighter goal is mandated.

The energy business itself is also changing. As photovoltaic technology has gotten cheaper and energy meters have gotten smarter, it’s now possible to build a more distributed grid where electricity is generated on a smaller scale, house by house. SolarCity, for example, which designs and installs residential solar panels, has allowed individuals to drastically lower their electric bills through PV panels attached to their roofs–and often at prices that are next to nothing.

All of which means that solar power may succeed without more utility-scale projects like Desert Sunlight coming online. First Solar has plans to build a 750-megawatt plant in Riverside, Calif., even bigger than Desert Sunlight or Topaz. But so far, only 200 megawatts of energy have been purchased. First Solar’s Krum says that he doesn’t expect many more large solar stations to come online anytime soon. Future plants may end up being half the size of these new behemoths.

Desert Sunlight is undoubtedly a wonder, a glittering oasis in the desert that is the first of its kind. And as it turns out, it may also be the last.

Solar Energy Services Company In Los Angels.

Los Angeles green lights 300 MW of solar projects

 SunEdison and Hecate Energy will build 250 MW of large solar in Kern County plus 50 MW of local solar. Los Angeles is targeting a 25% renewables share by 2016 and 33% by 2020.
Castaic Power Plant, Los Angeles County

As part of its new solar projects, LADWP will add a second connection to the Castaic Power Plant, which is vital for grid integration of renewables by serving as pumped storage.
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The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has approved agreements for a large 250 MW solar array in neighboring Kern County, which borders Los Angeles County to the north, as well as development of 50 MW of solar projects within the city.

"This is a great milestone in the City of L.A.’s efforts to expand renewable energy and a win-win for the businesses and people of Los Angeles who will benefit from solar power development right in the city," said Board President Mel Levine, president of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners. "These solar projects will help spark economic development and jobs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel power plants, and meet L.A.’s renewable energy mandates."

LADWP General Manager Marcie Edwards added that the agreements "put us within reach of our targets of 25% renewable energy by 2016 and 33% by 2020."

Combined, the utility-scale solar array and the local solar projects will provide enough energy for about 150,000 homes and offset emissions of close to 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be produced by fossil fuel power plants, LADWP said.

"Along with helping spur the clean energy economy in Los Angeles and meeting renewable energy goals, the expansion of local solar builds more resiliency and reliability into the power grid," the municipal utility added, pointing out that small solar systems were like "mini power plants" that generate power right where it is being used, saving on transmission costs and taking advantage of the city's abundant sunshine to help meet electrical demand.

The agreements, which require approval by the City Council, pave the way for the 250 MW Beacon Solar Project, which will be built near the town of Mojave some 109 miles (175 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, while rounding out the full 150 MW feed-in tariff (FiT) program. Last year, LADWP launched the FiT set-pricing program for 100 MW, becoming the largest city in the nation to offer a FiT program.

The Beacon land, acquired by LADWP in 2012 and previously permitted in Kern County for solar development, has been divided into five sites. Four sites will be developed through four separate power purchase agreements for a total of 200 MW. Each of these contracts is tied to developing small-scale FiT solar projects in the City of Los Angeles; altogether, these bundled agreements will lead to the construction of 50 MW of local solar within Los Angeles' city limits.

Through a competitive bid for the Beacon 200 MW Bundled Solar Program, the LADWP Board awarded two of the sites (88 MW) to SunEdison and two sites (112 MW) to Hecate Energy. In conjunction with the large solar projects, SunEdison is to develop 22 MW of local solar and Hecate will build 28 MW of solar within Los Angeles.

The fifth solar project that will be installed on the Beacon property is a 50 MW project that is not "bundled" with a FiT component. This contract was also awarded to Hecate Energy.

Randy Howard, LADWP senior assistant general manager - Power System, said the Beacon solar agreements were part of a comprehensive strategy that has evolved over the past several years with public input. "These new solar projects will add to the existing Pine Tree wind and solar projects, and form a cluster of renewables in this area to help LADWP meet its renewable energy objectives near the Los Angeles Basin," Howard said.

To support the increase in renewable energy in Kern County, LADWP has begun construction of the Barren Ridge Renewable Transmission Project (BRRTP), which will expand the capacity of the utility's existing transmission. In addition to providing all transmission and distribution infrastructure for the Beacon Solar Project, LADWP is also building a switchyard for the installation as well as expanding the transmission line itself. As part of the transmission project, LADWP is likewise building a new switching station near the city of Santa Clarita, which will also improve overall reliability by adding a second connection to the Castaic Power Plant in L.A. County.

Located at Castaic Lake, the Castaic Power Plant serves as pumped storage for solar and wind energy and is vital to integrating the renewables into the electric grid.

Solar Company Los Angeles.