Solar Millennium's Andosol 1, a parabolic trough power installation in Spain that went live in December 2008.
(Credit: Solar Millennium)Newly formed thermal solar energy company Solar Trust announced on Tuesday it acquired the rights to Solar Millennium's potentially lucrative agreement with Southern California Edison (SCE).
The power purchase agreement, which was announced in June, gives Solar Trust the opportunity to build up to 726 megawatts' worth of solar power plants.
If approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the project would include the construction and installation of two or three 242-megawatt power plants that would be operational by 2013 or 2014.
Solar Trust's strategy is to offer what it calls a "turnkey solution" to thermal solar energy development. It says it will be a company that can provide not only the design, development, construction, and installation of a thermal solar plant, but also the running and management of the plant once it's functional.
But Solar Trust is actually a joint venture of two German companies making their way into the U.S. market. Solar Millennium AG is a company specializing in parabolic trough solar thermal power plants, and MAN Ferrostaal, which has an Ohio-based subsidiary, is an engineering and construction company.
Once formed, Solar Trust acquired Solar Millennium, Solar Millennium AG's Berkeley, Calif.-based subsidiary that already held the agreement with SCE.
"With thousands of fully-funded and completed industrial projects in the combined portfolios of our business partners, we expect to become the industry leader in the development and construction of these solar thermal power plants in the U.S," Uwe T. Schmidt, CEO of Solar Trust of America, said in a statement.
Parabolic trough solar thermal is the next generation of solar thermal tech. Companies like Ausra, eSolar, and Solel have already been raising money or developing projects with the technology.
Instead of using solar panels to convert light into electricity, the parabolic troughs used in these thermal solar plants reflect sunlight to heat liquid that in turn makes steam to generate electricity. While known to be one of the most cost-effective forms of renewable energy, it's most effective in sunny, desert areas like the southwestern U.S., Spain, and Egypt.
A First Solar installation in Dimbach, Germany.
(Credit: First Solar)Southern California Edison has signed a deal under which First Solar will build two solar power generation stations with the potential to provide electricity to 170,000 homes, the utility giant said Tuesday.
The contract, which is subject to the approval of the California Public Utilities Commission, has solar module maker First Solar completing two solar stations by 2015 that together would create 550-megawatt generation capacity.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but once up-and-running the plants would be capable of producing about 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours of energy annually, according to Southern California Edison.
Specifically, a 250-megawatt solar power installation is planned for Desert Center in Riverside County, while a 300-megawatt installation is planned for an unspecified location in San Bernardino County. Both stations will consist of thin-film photovoltaic solar modules.
The deal is one of a number that have been announced in keeping with California's goal to have 20 percent of its energy supplied by renewable resources by 2010--and, if extending legislation is passed, 33 percent by 2020. In February, Southern California Edison announced a contract for seven solar generation plants with BrightSource Energy that if completed could power 845,000 homes.
"First Solar is an excellent partner in helping us achieve our goals. This agreement is good for our customers, for the industry, and for the environment," Stuart Hemphill, Southern California Edison senior vice president, said in a statement.
This latest deal is also more evidence in favor of analysts' predictions that First Solar will be among the solar tech companies that make it through the recession.
In March, First Solar acquired the rights to OptiSolar's incomplete projects and land rights, after its competitor had trouble raising enough capital to complete its projects in development. That deal was estimated to be worth $400 million and predicted to bring First Solar $70 million in revenue for 2009, according to the First Solar CEO Michael Ahern.
Southern California Edison (SCE) on Thursday launched a program to build the equivalent of a small power plant on commercial rooftops with thousands of solar panels.
The program calls for SCE to put enough solar photovoltaic panels on commercial buildings to turn out 250 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply about 162,000 homes.
Got roof space? Southern California Edison has some solar power for you.
(Credit: Southern California Edison)Once completed, the panels will take up 65,000,000 square feet of roofs in Southern California, or 2 square miles.
The total cost would be about $875 million and is projected to take about five years.
The utility, which has the backing of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said that it will help it meet California's mandate of generating 20 percent of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2010.
Commercial rooftops are a relatively attractive place to put large-scale solar panel installations.
Typically, businesses do not own those panels. Instead, they contract with an outside provider who sells electricity that the panels generate back to the business owner at a predetermined rate.
SCE said that the panels will help alleviate the stress on the grid during the hottest times of the day.
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