Solar Industry to See Faster than Expected Growth

Solar industry to see faster than expected growth

By CHRIS KAHN AP Energy Writer
NEW YORK — The solar energy industry will grow faster than expected during the next few years as American utilities invest heavily in large-scale solar farms, analysts with Barclays Capital said Tuesday in a research note.
Barclays analyst Vishal Shah noted that demand for utility-scale solar projects could eventually make up half of the U.S. market. Major utilities could install about 5 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic projects during the next three years, the analyst said.
Solar power is still a tiny player on the American electrical grid, however.
The utility-scale projects currently in operation in the U.S. provide 444 megawatts of energy to the grid according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. That's enough to power 2.8 million homes, and it's only a fraction of the power generated by another alternative energy source, the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station near Phoenix.
That amount is expected to jump more than 12-fold in the next few years, however, with dozens of new solar plants under development in California, Arizona, Florida and Hawaii.
Shah said SunPower Corporation, First Solar Inc., Suntech Power Holdings Co. and Yingli Green Energy will be the primary players in utility-scale projects in coming years.
Because of the banking meltdown, the expansion depends heavily on the promise of billions of federal stimulus dollars that Congress earmarked for solar in the past year.
Power companies have had trouble raising money for major projects, and they still don't yet know how they can access federal grants and loan guarantees.
SEIA spokeswoman Monique Hanis said the Treasury Department and the Department of Energy are expected provide more information this summer.
"The sooner we can get some guidance, the sooner we can get moving on these projects," Hanis said.
___Copyright 2009, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

VOTE SOLAR!

Despite all this talk of a renewable energy future, the energy bill moving through congress doesn't do much for solar. (Want to learn why? Read our recent article on the topic). In the words of 80s songstress Bonnie Tyler, "we need a hero!"

Well, I think we just found her. Meet Senator Stabenow (D-MI), the new solar champion in Congress. She's stepping up to make sure the energy bill doesn't leave solar in the dark. She's introduced an amendment that would require utilities to add small-scale renewable resources such as solar to their electricity mix.

The amendment is already facing serious opposition from utilities that see solar as harmful to their profit margins. Surely we can make more noise than old energy. Let your Senators know that business-as-usual is not good enough. Solar needs to be a bigger part of our national energy future.

Senator Stabenow's amendment would increase the amount of solar we have deployed today by 224,900% by 2020. Declare your support for a solar future, today!

The Vote Solar Initiative
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