You may have heard about the new technology that promises to extend solar power production into previously unknown territory: darkness. The key ingredient is a type of salt that acts as a thermal mass, becoming molten during the heat of the day and then releasing that stored heat at night to provide steam to power turbines for energy production. The New York Times blog Green Inc. offers a good look at the details of the Nevada solar plant being planned around this technology, and a good sum-up of how it will actually work:

Huge fields of mirrors called heliostats focus the sun on the receiver, which heats the salt to 1,050 degrees. The liquefied salt flows through a steam-generating system to drive the turbine and is returned to the receiver to be heated again.

A planned power plant in Nevada projects being able to store up to 12 hours of energy with this method, enabling the utility company purchasing the power (NV Energy) to better distribute this variable renewable resource. A second plant, providing 150 MW of solar power for California’s PG&E, will have 7 hours of storage.

Beginning in late January, Massachusetts will once again be accepting applications for the Commonwealth Solar Rebate Program. The press release from Governor Deval Patrick’s office laid out the next phase for solar in the state:

…the new programs – Commonwealth Solar II and Commonwealth Solar Stimulus – will begin accepting rebate applications from residents and businesses seeking help financing their solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The new rebate programs will be benefit from a two-pronged funding scheme. Funding for Commonwealth Solar II, providing rebates for small residential and commercial photovoltaic (PV) systems (5 kilowatts or less), will come from $1 million per quarter in existing funds from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust.

The press release doesn’t stipulate how much funding an individual project can expect to receive; under the original Commonwealth Solar plan, residential rebates began at $1/watt but could be over $4/watt, if the applicant qualified for adders like moderate income, moderate home value, or Massachusetts-made solar components. However the rebate breaks down this time, $1 million per quarter in funding should help a substantial number of small solar projects get off the ground.

Accessing federal funds (ARRA), Governor Patrick will be able to offer solar installations of 5-200kw rebates as well. But the real buzz in the state is around the proposed Solar Credit market. This is essentially a market in which the solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) associated with the electricity produced by solar panels in the state can be sold, the proceeds going to the owner of the solar installation. This is the very successful model currently being used in New Jersey, most notably. Why the state couldn’t just call it an SREC program is beyond us–but we’re happy to see Massachusetts getting into the SREC game, regardless. For a state that has consistently provided thought and legislation leadership on renewable energy issues, its programs to help offset the high cost of solar installations have lagged behind neighbors like New York. Way to ring in the new year, Massachusetts!

It’s been a year of serious ups and downs (and more ups) for the solar industry, and we at GetSolar have enjoyed every minute of covering it for you. Solar has stood the test of a severe economic crisis and we are poised at the brink of great expansion as solar technology becomes more efficient, solar information becomes more accessible, solar power becomes more deployable, and solar markets become more thoroughly understood and developed. We look forward to keeping you informed and engaged in the solar discussion in 2010.

GetSolar will be closed until January 3rd, all the better to celebrate the season. We thank you for your readership and participation and wish you all a very happy new year indeed.

North America’s largest solar energy services provider, SunEdison, and Xcel Energy’s regional operating company, Southwestern Public Service Company, today announced a deal for five photovoltaic (PV) solar installations in New Mexico. Together the installations will total 50 megawatts (mWs) of solar generation capacity — enough to power more than 10,000 homes. To be sited in Lea and Eddy counties in southeastern New Mexico, the five 10 mW utility-scale installations should be fully operational by the end of 2011.

“We are thrilled to begin harvesting New Mexico’s rich solar resources, and we are equally proud to add this project to our growing base of wind energy, as we diversify our renewable energy portfolio,” stated Riley Hill, president and CEO of Southwestern Public Service Company, an Xcel Energy company. “We are also pleased to be working with SunEdison, a leader in solar development with the experience and financial strength to ensure a smooth project completion.”

As an investor-owned utility, Xcel Energy is obligated to meet New Mexico’s renewable portfolio standard, which requires regulated utilities to by 2015 source at least 15 percent of their electricity from renewable resources. By 2020, that figure is set to rise to 20 percent. The deal with SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC, will enable Xcel to continue to meet its renewable-energy requirements.

The corporate press release highlights the following features of the announced deal:

• The projects will power more than 10,000 homes in the first full year of operation, producing 110 million kilowatt-hours (kWhs)
• Over a 20-year life span, the installations will produce over two billion kWhs of clean solar energy — enough to power over 187,000 homes for an entire year
• The projects will, also over a 20-year period, offset more than 1.3 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide, the equivalent of taking almost 300,000 cars off the road for one year

With the focus on Copenhagen and climate change, my coverage of the smart grid has taken a back seat. The two, however, are far from mutually exclusive. Rather, the smart grid is now being billed as a key solution to fighting climate change, on par with scaling renewable energy and creating an international carbon trading mechanism.

A delegation drawing attention to smart grid as a weapon in the fight against climate change was in attendance at Copenhagen. The Demand Response Smart Grid (DRSG) Coalition and the Smart Grid Green Initiative, led by Executive Director Dan Delurey, is the first smart grid non-governmental organization to participate in a meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP) on climate change. The representatives from DRSG met with the U.S. House of Representatives to COP-15, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). After the meeting, Pelosi said,

We in the Congress believe that developing the smart grid is indeed an option that can provide multiple dividends to U.S. businesses and consumers…It can lower costs, create jobs and make our nation more competitive in the international marketplace.  As we discussed today, it also is important to climate change and we think it ought to be part of the climate change debate, both here in Copenhagen and back home.

Analysis has shown that upgrading our electrical grid by bringing digital technology to the power equation can have a fairly significant effect on decreasing carbon emissions in the U.S. The smart grid will enable energy to be generated and used more efficiently. In addition, it will help the grid better balance the intermittency of renewable energy. By sending delegates to Copenhagen to represent the smart grid industry and educate world leaders on the need for fixing our electrical grid, the international community added a new weapon to the growing arsenal of solutions to fight climate change.

Long regarded by analysts as the solar industry bellwether, Arizona-based manufacturer First Solar is solidifying its position as a solar power behemoth, a powerhouse with enormous coffers and global reach. As part of its efforts to grow its utility business, yesterday it opened the largest photovoltaic solar power station in California, a plant in the city of Blythe with a generating capacity of 21 megawatts (sufficient power for 17,000 homes) and a 20-year purchase agreement with Southern California Edison. The 21-megawatt plant is only the latest in a series of planned expansions for First Solar, which includes a 48-megawatt plant in Nevada to provide electricity to Pacific Gas & Electric subscribers in California, with the plant slated to begin construction in January 2010 and reach completion by the end of the year. With California’s utilities companies scrambling to reach the state’s ambitious mandates—one third of the state’s electricity has to come from renewable energy sources by 2020—the hope appears to be that the growth will benefit everybody.

First Solar, however, isn’t limiting its sights to national borders. Indeed, it has already made a well-publicized foray into China, where it inked a deal with officials in September to erect a 2,000-megawatt solar farm in the Mongolian desert. The solar module maker also has plans to collaborate with Paris-based EDF Energies Nouvelles to build a €100 million ($150 million US) manufacturing plant near Bordeaux, France, which the two companies said will have a generating capacity of over 100 megawatts. Eight additional manufacturing lines in Malaysia are in the pipeline as well.

But why the untrammeled expansion at this time? (For goodness’ sake, don’t they know we’re in a recession?!) As Reuters reports, First Solar sees a stronger year in 2010 and will increase output in 2011, which some analysts take to be a bullish sign. It expects its net sales for the fiscal year 2010 to be somewhere between $2.7 billion and $2.9 billion and Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $6.05 to $6.85.

Nevertheless, concerns over panel oversupply and First Solar’s movement from primarily selling solar panels to developing solar farms have kept the financial outlook tempered. Furthermore, the company, which makes thin-film cadmium-telluride solar panels, has the lowest production costs per watt in the industry, but its panels are also less efficient than the silicon-based panels made by some of its rivals, such as SunPower Corp. or Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd. Investors, competitors and other industry watchers alike will wait to see how it weathers out the storm.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will make available a $6 million grant to the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), according to a recent announcement by Governor David A. Paterson. The new funding will enable LIPA to continue programs that provide rebates and incentives to homeowners and business owners who install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. LIPA’s Solar Pioneer/Entrepreneur program provides a per-watt rebate to reduce the cost of solar panels, enabling many individuals and businesses to achieve a positive return on investment with their solar installations.

“The funding provided today will help LIPA continue a model program that has played a critical role in increasing the presence of clean, renewable solar power on Long Island,” Governor Paterson noted. “The increased use of photovoltaic panels will help fuel New York’s growing clean energy economy. It builds on the energy expertise working out of Long Island’s academic institutions and creates the new economy jobs New Yorkers need.”

In November, LIPA announced plans to limit the dollar amount any one solar project could receive. Regardless, the rebate program remains one of the most robust in the country: for the second straight year, LIPA was in 2009 named among the nation’s most solar-integrated utilities by the Solar Electric Power Association, a Washington D.C.-based industry group comprised of electric utilities. To date, LIPA has granted more than $54 million in rebates to 2,300 residential rooftop solar installations, 65 commercial installations, and 48 PV systems installed at non-profit and government buildings. Together, these projects represent 13.5 megawatts (mWs) of installed solar capacity.

Remember Solyndra? The California-based designer and manufacturer of cylindrical rooftop solar PV systems registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Filing does not guarantee that an issue of common stock will be approved.

Just this year, the company was the first to receive a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy for $535 million. Opening a second production facility designed to increase the company’s manufacturing output by over 400%, Solyndra has expanded significantly in 2009. Filing for an IPO is an indication that even more capital is needed to meet current orders and projected demand.

For more information on the IPO, check out Solyndra’s press release here.

Around this time of year, we find that not a lot of folks are thinking about large-scale home or business investments. It’s the holidays, we’re all a bit frantic. In some parts of the country, it may not even be practical to look at a solar installation for another few months considering ice and snow conditions. But in central coast California down through San Diego, this is hardly an issue–and this is also among the best regions in the country in which to pursue solar. Why? Solar resource (the availability and intensity of sunlight); great financing options; great solar incentives, like tax breaks and rebates; and a general supportive atmosphere. Your neighbors aren’t going to complain: they’re going to ask if they can take a tour.

San Diego as a Solar Resource

NREL Solar Resource Map U.S.

As you can see in the map above, there may be a few places in the country that can compete for insolation (solar radiation levels)–but there aren’t many. From Atascadero all the way down the coast, the solar resource is excellent; and moving inland from San Diego to Palm Desert and beyond, the resource is simply unbeatable. If you want to see how this great solar availability has resulted in real projects, check out this interactive map of San Diego solar installations.

San Diego Solar Rebates and Incentives

Whether you’re a customer of SCE, SDG&E, Anaheim Public Utilities, or LADWP, you can qualify for utility rebates that reduce up-front solar costs for most residential projects by at least 20 percent. Palm Desert also offers a low-interest loan program to make solar easier to finance (current phase of funding is closed, but the program is expected to reopen in the near future).

Additionally, all projects are eligible for the 30 percent federal investment tax credit, so your net cost may be at least 50 percent below gross. This paves the way to short payback periods and appealing ROI.

San Diego Solar Financing

This week, Adam filled us in on a great new program that will allow San Diego county residents to finance solar with municipal funds repaid via a 20-year surcharge on property taxes. Solar FIRST has been kicking around some California municipalities for a while now, but its availability to San Diego area residents is exciting news.

Not that I don’t give Southern California residents credit as things stand today: San Diego has already been named the best solar city in California, leading the state (as of July 2009) with about 19.5 MW installed solar capacity distributed across more than 2,260 rooftops. At the end of 2008, the California Energy Commission put total installed megawatts of solar in the state at 440 MW, so San Diego solar installations are pulling a fair bit of weight, comparatively.

Central Coast and Southern California solar are deservedly hot topics, and on the rise. This is a smart time to go solar, too: with solar module prices at low ebb due to the industry’s solar panel glut of the past year, but rebates and other solar incentives still going strong, there really has never been a better time to make this investment.

Minnesotans looking to install a solar photovoltaic (PV) system have reason to be hopeful for the New Year. As we reported on this blog in June, Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy has been developing plans to introduce in Minnesota their Solar Rewards program, its solar rebate initiative already on offer in Colorado and New Mexico. If the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) grants final approval, rebates may become available to homeowners and businesses in 2010.

As it stands, Xcel Energy anticipates a $2.25-per-watt incentive, an amount that would deliver a one-time discount of nearly 30 percent from the estimated $8.00/watt cost of installation. Add on a 30-percent federal tax credit (or federal grant, for businesses that install a solar energy system in 2009 or 2010), and the upfront cost of installation falls further still.

John Wold, product manager for Xcel Energy’s Minnesota Solar Rewards program, noted that, though still in the planning and budgeting stage, the program has already generated a lot of interest. “We know that there’s been a lot of anticipation for this in the installer community,” said Wold. “What we would like to do is focus on the initial rush of business and keep all our customers satisfied.”

If all goes according to plan, Xcel’s Minnesota Solar Rewards program will have an annual budget of up to $4.6million to make incentive payments over three years, bringing the total sum on offer to $13.8 million.

Stay tuned with GetSolar for future details.