Solar Capacity | Green Energy News

August 15, 2004 – Vol.9 No.21

SOLAR CAPACITY.

At the manufacturing end of the solar power industry Mitsubishi Electric has announced that it will expand its solar cell production in Japan from 90 megawatts per year to 135 megawatts by April 2005. And that’s just a start. The company will add another 95 megawatts capacity before the end of the following year.

In the solar powerplant sector of the industry, PowerLight has announced that the 10-megawatt Bavaria Solarpark in Germany will begin construction in October and be complete by the end of the year. The park is actually three facilities with a combined 57,600 photovoltaic panels. PowerLight is the turnkey system provider for the project. Visit PowerLight at http://www.powerlight.com/ .

Tucson Electric Power (TEP) and UniSource Energy Services (UES), operating under the hat of UniSource Energy Corp., are offering a program that will encourage the construction of solar systems on ratepayers’ homes.

The SunShare program will offer a subsidy of up to $3000 per kilowatt DC of installed grid-tied solar systems. (A 1.5 kilowatt system would get $4500, for instance.) Options in the program include discounts on solar systems purchased directly from the utilities. The program is limited, presumably on a first come first serve basis, to 50 kilowatts per year. The program will run for three years with subsidies reduced after 2005.

Visit UES at http://www.uesaz.com/ and TEP at http://www.tep.com/ .

Finally San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) has announced that, to date,1500 grid-tied solar electric systems have been installed on customers’ homes. Visit SDG&E at http://www.sdge.com/