Apr 30 2009

Solar Surge

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

The economy may be tanking, housing prices may be plummeting and the state's unemployment rate may be in double digits, but growing numbers of California residents continue to invest in the future of clean energy by installing solar panels on their homes and businesses.

Thanks to falling prices for solar panels and generous new federal tax credits, homeowners and businesses installed a record 78 megawatts of solar capacity in the first quarter of 2009, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. Customer-owned solar panels in the state now generate more than 500 megawatts of power, the CPUC said.

Within PG&E's service territory, customers in the first three months filed preliminary applications to install another 43 megawatts of solar panels--more additional capacity than many states have in their entire solar portfolio, according to Lisa Shell, senior project manager for PG&E's customer and solar generation group. In January alone, PG&E's customers installed about 1,200 solar systems, double the usual monthly average.

Some of the more noteworthy business customers who invested in clean solar energy include Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (which dedicated its new 1.5 MW solar system and electric vehicle charging stations on April 26), Del Monte Foods (which dedicated a 1.9 MW solar system on April 17), and Silver Oaks Cellars, an Oakville winery powered by 1,464 solar panels.

PG&E predicted demand would surge based on last fall's change in the federal tax code, and increased staffing in the customer solar area to process additional rebate applications. So far, the utility has met the surge in demand with few problems.

Since the beginning of 2007, when the California Solar Initiative was launched, PG&E has received more than 10,000 rebate applications. PG&E's customers--amounting to about five percent of the U.S. population--now have about 300 MW of solar capacity installed, about half the residential national total, according to Shell.

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