[The Vector] Solar Electric Makes Advances – SEPA Report
The 4th annual Solar Electric Power Association’s (SEPA) ranking have been recently published. SEPA tracks and analyzes solar electicity markets in the U.S. The growth measured in the last year has been impressive: the 2010 top ten ranked utilities integrated 561 MW of solar electric capacity, a 100% growth over the previous year (2009)!
Interesting facts and trends emerged from the study:
- Thirty utilities report owning 140 MW of solar as opposed to simply purchasing the power from facilities owned by others, which is up 300% over last year.
- About 63% of the new solar capacity came from utilities OUTSIDE California in 2010. 7 of 10 ranked utilities were outside California and 4 of the top 10 were in the Eastern U.S.
- The largest concentrating solar power (CSP) project in 20 years was installed in 2010, a hybrid CSP-natural gas plant owned by Florida Power & Light.
Centralized projects are another trend gaining traction. Solar markets have mostly relied on distributed PV for new capacity. But centralized project are growing, with eight centralized projects with greater than 10 MW capacity installed in 2010.
Two of the largest PV projects to date in the U.S. were installed in 2010: the 48 MW Copper Mountain project in Nevada and the 30 MW Cimarron project in New Mexico.
Diversification is also growing. Utilities are looking at a variety of solar procurement. Some utilities purchase power directly from their customers (such as rooftop PV) sold back to the grid; others create solar electric markets by owning or by procuring solar generation. Some use plants in concert with natural gas, CSP and/or PV. Utilities are taking different paths, to be sure. However, not all utilities are diversifying procurement – FPL’s portfolio, for instance, is almost all based on 3 utility-owned PV and CSP projects.
Who ranked at the top in the 2010 SEPA report for annual solar megawatts?
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in California installed 157 MW in 2010, which is the top position for new installation. PG&E also purchased output from the aforementioned new Copper Mountain PV facility.
Florida Power & Light (FPL) ranked second, installing 87 MW. Two utility-owned projects in 2010 were the 10 MW PV project at Kennedy Space Center and the 75 MW hybrid CSP power plant at a natural gas plant.
New Jersey’s Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) was in 3rd place with a 75 MW portfolio, says the SEPA report.
Cumulatively, Southern California Edison comes out on top. Cumulative solar megawatts is a measure of solar use over time, including prior to 2010. Southern California Edison has used 578.3 MW while Pacific Gas & Electric is at 476.5 MW. Third place is tied between New Jersey’s PSE&G and Florida’s FPL, both at 117 MW.
What about penetration rates?
I find this to be an interesting statistical measurement. The actual number of solar systems per customer is reflected in this chart rather than the solar capacity per customer. This is a method of analyzing how solar is integrating.
Roseville Electric (a municipal utility in northern California) has about 20 solar systems per 1,000 customers, ranking at the top. Verendrye Electric (a coop in North Dakota) came in at 19 solar systems per 1,000 customers. Palo Alto Utilities (CA) and Maui Electric (Hawaii) came in third and fourth with 14.8 and 13.8 solar systems per 1,000. In fact, Hawaii utilities were also in the 6th and 7th position as well, indicating solar integration is moving well there.
Which state led the nation in solar module manufacturing in 2010? According to another organization, SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association), it is Oregon. That is thanks to SolarWorld, a company which opened North America’s largest solar manufacturing facility in Oregon 2 years ago. Oregon was followed by Ohio, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Michigan.
SEPA says there is a variety in approach by municipalities to solar systems. Some are cooperatives, some are municipal, and others are private investor-owned. It is interesting that all top ten ranking utilities for 2010 were investor-owned, and eight of the top ten were ranked last year as well. The two newbies were Atlantic City Electric Company and Jersey Central Power and Light.
Who is SEPA? It is an non-profit resource for information about solar technologies, policies, and programs. SEPA focuses on working with electric utilities, but provides value to all businesses that have an interest in solar energy.
