Solar Cells Info

By Michael Hewlett, Sean Mussendenand James Romoser /Journal reporters
Lexinton, May 15, 2008
Source: Winston-Salem Journal  /
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/may/15/
bright-future-new-nc-utilities-law-generates-propo/?news

A proposed 21.5 megawatt solar farm in Davidson County would probably be “the largest in the United States” of its type, said Monique Harris, a spokeswoman for the Solar Energy Industries Association.  And such a project wouldn’t even be considered in North Carolina without a landmark state energy law passed last year, state legislators and energy experts said yesterday.

If SunEdison LLC, of Maryland, decides to build in Davidson County, its solar farm would represent a significant step in North Carolina’s continuing efforts to develop an energy policy that relies less on coal and nuclear plants and more on clean, renewable energy.

Davidson County commissioners approved about $2 million in incentives Tuesday night for the solar farm. The county would pay $1.8 million for grading and cash grants of $125,000 in 2009, $75,000 in 2010 and $50,000 in 2011. The company would invest $173 million in the solar farm and provide up to 80 construction jobs and three full-time jobs.  The company is considering other unidentified sites and will probably make an announcement in mid-June, said Steve Googe, the county’s economic-development director. He said that the state is not offering incentives.

The energy law, intended to promote renewable energy, requires power companies to obtain a set percentage of their energy from solar power and other renewable sources. Duke Energy Corp. and Progress Energy Inc. are now looking for renewable-energy companies that can provide the energy needed to meet the law’s mandates.

Since the passage of the law, a variety of companies that generate renewable energy have expressed interest in coming to North Carolina. SunEdison, considered the largest solar-energy provider in the country, is one of them, Googe said.

“The legislatively created demand by the utility companies to have access to solar power was clearly the reason they looked in the North Carolina area,” he said yesterday.

Ivan Urlaub, the executive director of the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association, said that there is a lot of confidential activity going on now with companies looking at projects of various sizes.  “We’re seeing more and more companies craft proposals,” he said.

Rob Wyse, a spokesman for SunEdison, said that the Davidson solar farm would use a traditional “photovoltaic,” or PV, system of flat panels that catch the sun’s rays and generate electricity. A second type of solar system, known as “Concentrating Solar Power” or CSP, uses mirrors, parabolic dishes or other means to intensify the sun’s natural output.

If selected, the Davidson farm would be one of the largest photovoltaic facilities in the world, second only to a new facility in Spain that has a peak generating capacity of 23 megawatts, according to a list compiled by Pvresources.com, a solar-energy information Web site. The largest existing PV facility in the United States, at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, produces 14 megawatts.

SunEdison is considering Davidson County because of the availability of large tracts of land, said Larry Potts, the chairman of the Davidson County Board of Commissioners and a member of the county’s economic-development commission.

The company also wanted to be near large transmission lines, he said.

Googe said that the company is looking at three sites in Davidson County. One of those is near a proposed 2,400-acre megasite off Interstate 85, Potts said.  Googe would not say where the other two sites are. The company would build on 190 to 200 acres over 12 to 14 months, he said.

State Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, said that renewable-energy systems such as SunEdison’s proposed solar farm are “precisely” what legislators were hoping for when they drafted the energy law last year. Harrison is one of the leaders in the General Assembly on environmental issues and was a key writer of the energy law.  “By requiring a solar set-aside, it was our hope that we would create a domestic market for solar power in North Carolina,” Harrison said.

Solar technology is still in the early stages, and it is difficult to create very large-scale solar-energy systems. In addition, building a solar-power system is very expensive, although solar power can save money in the long run because the “fuel” is free.

SunEdison, which started in 2003, has billed itself as unique in the solar-energy market, buying and installing solar equipment and then getting customers to sign contracts to purchase a certain amount of electricity at a set price over a period of time.

Without North Carolina’s new mandate for solar power — and without other forms of government support — the nascent solar industry would be unlikely to locate here, said Molly Diggins, the state director of the N.C. Sierra Club. Diggins added that coal and nuclear power also get heavy government subsidies.  “Solar energy is not feasible in states that don’t provide incentives,” Diggins said.