Wired article

Solar power installations at utilities across the country increased 25 percent in 2008 over the year before. The nation’s top 10 utilities now have 882 megawatts of solar capacity.

As in previous years, Southern California Edison topped the total capacity ratings at 441 megawatts, mostly due to its extra large installation out in the Mojave. Pacific Gas & Electric, which serves northern California, installed the most solar this year, though, at 85 megawatts. Small, publicly-owned utilities in San Francisco and Oakland lead the watts per customer race by a wide margin.

But all of those numbers are tiny in the scheme of the U.S. electricity system, which has more than one million megawatts of generating capacity. The new report from the Solar Electric Power Association [pdf] demonstrates that solar’s future remains in the future. Still, state and federal policy requiring that utilities incorporate more renewable energy and probable climate legislation are pushing a lot more solar into utilities’ plans.

“This year’s report demonstrates that solar electricity is finally on the radar screen of utilities across the country,” Julia Hamm, executive director of the Solar Electric Power Association, said in a press release. “Solar plants large and small are ready for significant build-out, and the utility industry is moving towards mass adoption to meet a variety of business needs.”

The utilities intend to install more than 7,500 megawatts of solar capacity within the next seven years, with most of those projects scheduled to come online in the next few years.

That growth will come largely from big, centralized projects, not your neighbor’s roof. Most big projects don’t use photovoltaic panels, which convert photons directly into electrons, either. Instead, they use fields of mirrors to concentrate the heat of the sun onto a boiler that produces steam. If the early projects planned by Brightsource, Ausra, and other work out, solar advocates think variants of solar thermal technology could provide 25 percent of the world’s power by the middle of the century.

See Also:

Biggest Solar Deal Ever Announced — We’re Talking Gigawatts …
How To Make a Solar Cell with Donuts and Tea
Utilities Jumping into the Solar Game
The Top 10 Utilities for Solar Power
Clean Tech
WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal’s Twitter, Google Reader feed, and book site for The History of Our Future; Wired Science on Facebook.

Posted by: wurp | 05/28/09 | 5:47 pm
Photovoltaic cells do *not* “convert photons directly into electrons”. They convert photons into volts (as indicated by the name). The photon hits an electron *already in the cell* and gives it momentum, pushing a stream of electrons from one electrode of the cell toward the other. The build-up of electrons on one electrode and dearth in the other produces a potential difference (voltage) between the two electrodes.

Photovoltaic cells do essentially convert photons directly into electricity - maybe that was the point you were driving at?

Posted by: cspearow | 05/28/09 | 7:30 pm
Something you should make clear: solar-thermal power generation is not cost effective, not even close. Utilities that are building these systems are simply complying with requirements imposed by the state or federal government. At the levels built so far, it is a nuisance, but at some point it will force an increase in consumer electric rates, and that’s probably when governments will back down, like CARB did with the zero-emission cars.

Posted by: john623 | 05/29/09 | 5:54 pm
The lake of energy is a biggest problem of the universe now a days. Search of new sources of energy has much need today. Although it is not my field but when i read this article it gave me much information and inspired me. I am thank full to Alexis Madriga.

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Posted by: damasterwc | 05/30/09 | 7:56 pm
oh gee, all these rebates, subsidies, and all and we have yet to top 1 GW?
pathetic… and why don’t we use fast breeder nuclear fission with reprocessing again? in CA the gubernator has cut off water to a lot of farms… driving from LA to SF you really see the impact of his reign. dried deserts, all the way up the 5, what used to be farm land. they’re doing nothing about the water problem except now telling us when we can and cannot water our lawn. i’m sick of this bs. i demand they immediately construct nuclear power and use excess heat energy to create fresh water. this is totally within our technological capabilities. there is no water crisis, there’s a political crisis. remember that when you go vote.

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Posted by: FreeCleanSolar | 07/29/09 | 12:16 pm
Good to learn that solar power is growing. I look forward to the day when solar panels are visible most everywhere. The best place for solar panels is on your own roof. The costs have never been lower and the incentives have never been better.

The fact is that installing solar panels for your home or business can cut your electric bill to $0 today.

Take your monthly electric bill and multiply by 12 months, then again by 25 years to determine how much you will spend on traditional utility-generated electricity during the typical life of a solar panel system. Then depending on your energy needs, compare this to the $5,000 to $25,000 cost to install solar panels.

For example, if you spend $200 per month for electricity, then you will spend $81,979 over 25 years, including a low annual price inflation rate of 2.5%. No matter how you calculate it, you will save money with a $5,000 to $25,000 solar panel system. Some so-called experts will say the cost per kilo-watt (kW) for traditional utility energy is less than the cost per kW of solar. Remember, you can pay the utility for 25 years, with annual price increases, or you can pay 80% less with solar power.

If you are worried about the upfront cost for solar panels, there are many financing and leasing programs available to homeowners with good credit. Some loans are tax-deductible too.

If you want to do something about this today, then visit FreeCleanSolar.com to search a nationwide network of 500 local solar installers. You can also find information about state solar rebates, federal tax credits, solar financing and leasing, system costs and the benefits of going solar. The bottom line is that many homeowners and businesses can afford solar power today.