Solar Costs to Fall 50% By 2010

By Georgina Prodhan

BERLIN (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp. (6753.T: Quote, NEWS, Research), the world's biggest maker of solar cells, expects the cost of generating solar power to halve by 2010 and to be comparable with that of nuclear power by 2030, Sharp's president said.

"By the year 2010 we'll be able to halve generation costs," Katsuhiko Machida told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. "By 2020 we expect a further reduction -- half of 2010 -- and by 2030 we expect half the 2020 level.

"By 2030 the cost will be comparable to electricity produced by a nuclear power plant," said Machida, speaking on the fringes of the IFA trade fair in Berlin, the world's biggest consumer electronics fair.

Asked how the costs were likely to compare with those for producing electricity from fossil fuels such as coal, Machida replied: "Fossil fuel resources will be totally out by then."

Solar electricity currently costs about $0.50 per kilowatt hour to produce, more than eight times as much as that produced from fossil fuel...read more

CA Aims For A Million Solar Homes

Governor Schwarzenegger today committed California to putting solar panels on a million rooftops. He signed the last of a series of bills aimed at producing enough solar energy to power three million homes. A look at the incentives for homeowners, and the energy experts who say it may be a bad investment...read more

EI Completes Solar Facility in Marin County

SAN RAFAEL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 18, 2006--EI Solutions announced today that it had completed the installation of a 490kW solar electricity system for the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District in San Rafael. The system, comprised of 2,940 Sharp solar panels, will meet over 90 percent of the district's electricity needs.

The project is Phase 2 of the District's solar program. Phase 1, installed by EI Solutions two years ago, is an 81kW array, which supplies power to pump recycled wastewater to maintain pasture land in open space. Together the two systems will save the District $170,000 in electricity costs annually at today's prices.

The three-acre solar plant is surrounded by hundreds of acres of wildlife ponds created by the District with treated wastewater. The ponds are a haven for birds and wildlife, and they are enjoyed by thousand of people that walk miles of trails in the area each year.

About EI Solutions

EI Solutions is one of California's fastest-growing providers of large-scale solar power systems. The company has completed projects for a wide variety of public agencies and private companies, including Berlex's Richmond California campus, Swinerton Property Services' California offices in Concord and Irvine, Seghesio Family Vineyards, Sonoma State University, and the Marin County General Services Building. EI Solutions is a division of Energy Innovations, Inc. of Pasadena, CA. More information can be found at http://solutions.energyinnovations.com.

Concentrating Solar Ready for Prime Time?

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 18, 2006--For the first time ever, utility ratepayers in Colorado have asked that incentives to burn coal for electric power be replaced with solar power. Concentrating solar power (CSP) produces steam with mirrors that gather sunlight. By storing some of the heat, CSP runs generating plants day and night. A new form of CSP that is directly cost-competitive with fossil fuel combustion is now entering commercial deployment, according to the testimony submitted Friday at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

"The southwestern United States has superb solar resources, with more energy than Saudi Arabia waiting to be tapped," said John S. O'Donnell, the expert witness who submitted the testimony on Concentrating solar power. "This solar power can directly replace the burning of fossil fuels to heat water and produce steam," said O'Donnell.

Dan Friedlander, an individual in the Colorado PUC case, said, "We all need to be concerned about future costs of coal and carbon regulations because ratepayers will be footing the bill, especially here in Colorado. Coal burning exposes us to rate increases and the dangers of planetary heating. Generating our power with sunlight instead of coal is the safest, soundest, and cheapest choice."

Alison Burchell, a geologist and spokesperson for Ratepayers United of Colorado, said, "We talk about carbon capture as if it's a ready solution to critical planetary warming. But trying to bury the massive amounts of CO2 emitted from coal plants is like burying a mountain range - it will be difficult and, at the least, very expensive. If we build CSP plants instead, we avoid paying for the coal and its transportation and the monumental back-end costs to bury its exhaust."

Ratepayers United of Colorado recommends that policies outlined in the Western Governor's Association January 2006 Solar Task Force Report be aggressively implemented.

"Ratepayers in Colorado are being asked to pay premium prices for our utilities to burn more coal, and to accept uncertainty about future electric costs and massive environmental costs," said Friedlander. "Instead we should develop our abundant solar resources and meet all our power needs securely. Building solar infrastructure is the best use of our money now, and the best legacy we can leave future generations."

More information about the case or Ratepayers United is available at http://www.ratepayersunited.org.