CPUC Approves Major Solar Initiatives in California (650 MW PV- lower cost than natural gas)

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http://www.solarbuzz.com/News/NewsNAPR2191.htm

Today, the California Public Utilities Commission issued two major solar decisions.

The first was to approve the San Diego Gas and Electric PV program, which will bring on-line 100 MW of PV over the next few years, in 1-5 MW increments. The utility will build and own 26 MW, and buy a further 74 MW through competitive auctions. This program mirrors similar programs in PG+E and SCE utility territories, for a total of 1.1 GW statewide.

Secondly, the Commission approved 2 big PV projects that are being developed by First Solar, for a total of 550 MW. Desert Sunlight for 250 MW has a projected online date of April 2015, while Desert Stateline is for 300 MW with an online date of December 2015.

Commenting on today's developments, Adam Browning of the The Vote Solar Initiative said, "There's been a revolution in solar pricing over the past 18 months, and these types of PV projects are now coming in at lower cost than new natural gas generation. This is great news for the economy, and the climate. California policymakers are leading the way on the new energy economy."

The Desert Sunlight project is actively seeking American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funding and is listed as a "fast-track" project for permitting by the Bureau of Land Management. The Desert Stateline project is not pursuing ARRA funding at this time.

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1. The PUC's decision largely adopted the UCAN-SDG&E proposal.

http://www.ucan.org/energy/energy_efficiency_alternatives/sdges_pv_project_promise_and_peril

SDG&E's PV Project: The Promise and the Peril
Posted September 2nd, 2010 by michael

UCAN News

It took two years, but the PUC finally adopted a utility-based solar power project in San Diego. It borders upon insanity that the one city in the United States that is so blessed with sun is not leading the solar PV revolution. We've been out hustled by San Francisco, Santa Monica, Germany, Japan and countless other countries who can only dream to have San Diego's solar bounty.

This newly approved project could increase the amount of solar-generated power in San Diego County by 100MW -- approximately doubling the current solar output. SDG&E could spend up to $100 million putting 26 megawatts photovoltaic cells on land and buildings it owns in San Diego and purchase 74W from local solar generators. This is a decision that was supported by UCAN after it spent a year to work out details of the project with SDG&E and other stakeholders. The PUC's decision largely adopted the UCAN-SDG&E proposal.

It differed notably from larger solar projects approved for SCE and PG&E in that it is less expensive, more weighted to private market power projects rather than utility-owned ones, and is focused more on emerging applications of solar. So it is more future-oriented than the other utility PV projects.

One cautioning note: It is not a panacea. The 100MW of PV power that is expected from this project is only an incremental step towards greater adoption of PV. However, UCAN views it as an important step because it will be promoting more advanced forms of PV that are designed to produce more solar power later in the daytime. As San Diego's peak load shifts later and later in the day, projects designed to address that later peak time will help advance technologies that aren't getting sufficient attention at this time. In this way, the program is quite different from the ones designed by PG&E & SCE.

UCAN is also mindful that PV power will not be cheap. We wanted to keep the project limited to 100MW at this time so that we can promote lower cost PV projects for the future. So this project will not be truly successful unless it leads to appreciably lower cost PV installations over the next four years. We'll be monitoring the outcomes of the competitive bids that will be spawned by this project --- assuming SDG&E moves forward with it. If costs aren't coming down, we may petition to suspend the project.

For more details about the PUC decision, click here.