PG&E’s Solar Power Contracts Bode Well for State’s Future

By editorial

SOLAR POWER RECEIVED what could be a landmark advance with a decision by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to buy 800 megawatts of photovoltaic power from two Bay Area firms. That is enough to power 239,000 homes.

The utility will purchase 550 megawatts from OptiSolar, a Hayward company, and another 250 megawatts from SunPower Corp. of San Jose.

OptiSolar will place thin-film solar panels on 9.5 square miles of land in San Luis Obispo County. SunPower will do the same on 3.5 square miles of land in that county.

The significance of PG&E’s commitment to solar energy cannot be overstated. When completed in 2013, the combined photovoltaic solar power operation will be the largest of its kind in the world.

Today, most photovoltaic solar energy production has come from small panels on individual homes and businesses. The total energy produced from these solar panels is less than 1 percent of the energy used in the country.

In fact, until now, most large-scale solar energy projects have used concentrated sunlight to heat a liquid that generates electricity with a turbine.

Photovoltaic power generation produces electricity directly from sunlight. But it has not been used on a large scale because of its high cost of about 40 cents per kilowatt-hour.

That compares to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour for natural gas and 12 cents for wind energy. Solar thermal costs about 18 cents per kilowatt hour.

However, solar voltaic costs have been coming down and are apt to drop significantly if major electric companies like PG&E contract to buy large amounts of electricity.

PG&E won’t say what the cost of the electricity produced by OptiSolar and SunPower will be.

But company officials did say the contracts with OptiSolar and SunPower would provide power at rates competitive with other renewables. If so, that could ignite a watershed reduction in the cost of photovoltaic power.

PG&E also said the contracts will not affect prices paid by its customers, further indicating a major reduction in the cost of solar energy.

Photovoltaic power is well-suited to California’s demands. It is generated most effectively on summer afternoons, when air- conditioning makes its greatest demands for electric power.

If PG&E’s deal succeeds, it could be a huge boost for the renewable energy industry not just in California but throughout the Sun Belt and nationwide.

PG&E’s solar power production will help it meet California’s precedent-setting mandate for the state’s utilities to generate 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal power by 2010.

Today, California’s utilities are far from that goal. PG&E, for example, gets just 11.4 percent of its energy from renewable sources and less than 1 percent from solar.

That percentage will increase dramatically with the two large photovoltaic energy contracts and several other smaller ones. PG&E expects that renewable energy will produce 24 percent of its electricity by 2013.

The steady increase in development of renewable electric power- generating sources such as solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind and geothermal bodes well for California’s future.

Clean electricity that is produced domestically can be used not only for homes and businesses but to recharge hybrid electric cars, finally reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and costly imported oil.

Originally published by MediaNews editorial.

(c) 2008 Oakland Tribune. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.