SoCal Edison ventures into small-scale solar power

Southern California Edison is taking full advantage of falling solar panel prices to bring more solar power into its energy mix. The utility announced recently that it has signed contracts for 239.5 megawatts of power from 20 small-scale solar farms, a Reuters news article said. The relatively small solar farms run from 5 to 20 megawatts in size. "Photovoltaics are definitely more cost competitive than they were just a couple of years ago," according to Mike Marelli, contracts director for renewable and alternative power at SoCal Edison. "We're seeing just a wild response to our solicitations for projects." The smaller farms have advantages over the much larger solar thermal plants which need huge amounts of land and, frequently, new transmission lines. The smaller farms can be built near existing transmission lines or substations, and can be built more quickly because California doesn't require the high level of environmental review for the smaller farms as it does for the larger solar thermal plants. The contract agreements also mark the first time SoCal Edison has ventured into concentrating photovoltaics (CPV). The utility will buy 28.5 megawatts of power from four CPV projects using technology provided by Seal Beach, California, company Amonix. Basically, the smart grid technology involves focusing sunlight on small but efficient solar cells. "The economics are getting into a point where solar PV and CPV if put on the right sites is competitive with the cost of peaking natural gas generation," Amonix CEO Brian Robertson said.

Quick Take: Smaller solar arrays have been showing a lot of promise for a variety of reasons, and falling equipment prices seem to be making them increasingly attractive to utilities and investors.

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