All About Solar | Green Energy News

August 6, 2006 – Vol.11 No.20

ALL ABOUT SOLAR.

This week’s news.

According to the California Energy Commission, power generated from solar thermal electric technologies could drop to 6 - 7 cents per kilowatt hour by 2010 and at that time be competitive (or perhaps less expensive than) conventional power.

By that year the state will have at least another 500 megawatts of solar thermal power added to its current portfolio of solar thermal powerplants already built and being planned.

Pacific Gas and Electric has signed agreements to purchase 500 megawatts - or more - from Luz II LLC beginning in the spring of 2010. The solar thermal plant will be a hybrid solar-gas design like the Solar Energy Generating Stations (SEGS) already operating in Southern California. Those plants use the heat of the Sun to heat a fluid to turn turbines to generate electricity in daylight hours. After dark natural gas is used as fuel to heat the same fluid and generate electricity. Being able to operate 24 hours a day adds to the appeal of the technology.

The original Luz firm built the first SEGS generators in the 1980s. The new Luz II says its new technology it will employ - the DPT 550 - is less expensive and more efficient than the original technology.

A number of solar thermal power plants will be built by Luz II, but the locations for them are not yet public information. Visit PG&E at http://www.pge.com/

When estimating the potential output of a renewable energy project it’s wise to err on the side of caution - be a little conservative, that is. Then if the project does better than the original estimate then everyone is happy.

When engineered, the Solar Grove - a forest of Solar Trees above the parking lot at Kyocera Solar’s North American headquarters in San Diego - was estimated to generate 421,000 kilowatt-Hours of electricity per year.

On its one year anniversary Kyocera has announced that it has done a little better than expected, a 6,692 kilowatt hour bonus for a total 427,602 kilowatt - hours, about 1.5 percent better than thought. Not exactly a stunning number, but noteworthy.

The Solar Grove (tm) has 25 Solar Trees (tm) with a total capacity (conservative estimate) of 235 kilowatts. The 1400 Kyocera KC-187G panels, along with 200 custom-made light filtering photovoltaic modules, also provide shade for cars parked beneath. Visit Kyocera Solar at http://www.kyocerasolar.com/ .

Two weeks ago Suntech Power Holdings of China secured a long term supply agreement for silicon wafers for solar cells. Last week the company announced it was purchasing a Japanese solar firm to expand production as well as gain a market foothold in that country.

Now the company has skipped over the Pacific and has opened a division in the US - Suntech America. The purpose of the new division is obvious: establish a market for solar panels and cells in North America. The company claims it is one of the world’s leading suppliers of solar cells.

The company’s Chairman and CEO Dr. Zhengrong Shi has also joined the International Advisory Committee of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Suntech took in $400 million in an initial public offering on the NYSE in December 2005, the largest ever in the US for a Chinese-based company. http://www.suntech-power.com/