Jul 08 2009

PG&E Selects Supplier for PV Pilot Project

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall

PG&E continues to make significant progress on its 2 megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) pilot  project, first announced here in March. PG&E has selected Solon Corporation, a subsidiary of Germany's Solon SE, as the turnkey supplier to build the facility--named Vaca-Dixon Solar Station--next to PG&E's Vaca-Dixon substation in Vacaville, CA. Solon was one of the six suppliers invited to bid out of 168 suppliers who responded to PG&E's request for information.

The pilot represents the utility's first step in implementing its plan to promote 500 MW of new PV power over five years--250 MW to be built by the utility and 250 MW by independent developers. (The plan, proposed in February, is under consideration by the California Public Utilities Commission.) 

PG&E will use the pilot project to help develop its processes for building and operating PV facilities while it seeks regulatory approval for the full 500 MW proposal. If approved and completed, that mega-PV program could meet more than 1.3 percent of PG&E's electric demand and deliver as much power as consumed by 150,000 average homes.
 
The Vaca-Dixon Solar Station will use Solon's polycrystalline modules, on ground mounts with a fixed tilt. Solon will sub-contract with Silverwood Energy, Inc., a California disabled veteran business enterprise, to build and commission the facility by the end of December, 2009. 

Solon, which has the interesting corporate tag line, "Don't leave the planet to the stupid,"
is one of the largest solar module manufacturers in Europe and a major supplier of photovoltaic systems for large-scale solar power plants. Since 2005, Solon has constructed solar power plants with a total solar power output of over 130 MW in Spain, Germany, Australia and the United States. Solon's PV module manufacturing facility is located in Tucson, AZ, with an annual production capacity of 120 MW.

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"PG&E" refers to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation.