Solar panels atop ProLogis’ warehouse in Fontana can power about 1,300 homes. The building is the first of 150 that Edison hopes to outfit with panels.
Posted on 12/02/2008 3:20:04 PM PST by calcowgirl
The utility's ratepayer-financed plan to outfit 150 buildings with the panels is cheered by business owners but criticized by consumer activists.
Southern California Edison on Monday unveiled its newest power plant: 33,700 solar panels atop a warehouse in Fontana that will feed green energy directly into the grid.
It's the first piece of what the utility says could become the largest rooftop solar installation in the world, a swath of photovoltaic panels spanning two square miles.
The 600,000-square-foot warehouse rooftop, owned by logistics firm ProLogis Inc., is the first of 150 commercial buildings that Edison is looking to outfit with solar panels over the next five years. Collectively, solar panels on all those roofs would provide 250 megawatts of electricity, enough by Edison's reckoning to power more than 160,000 homes when the sun is shining.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on hand to flip a mock switch on the 2-megawatt Fontana system, which cost $10 million and can light about 1,300 homes.
"I am a fanatic about renewable energy, and I have been trying to push the power companies . . . to create more," said Schwarzenegger, who urged Edison to move even faster on its proposed plan.
If approved by state regulators, Edison's photovoltaic project would be the largest ever attempted by a U.S. utility; 250 megawatts roughly equals the capacity of all the solar panels manufactured in the United States last year.
The massive size reflects the pressure California's investor-owned power companies are under to meet state mandates requiring them to boost the use of clean energy. It also underscores an evolution in solar financing. ... The approach is a hit with business owners who are finding their roofs to be unexpectedly valuable real estate. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Solar panels atop ProLogis’ warehouse in Fontana can power about 1,300 homes. The building is the first of 150 that Edison hopes to outfit with panels.
$10,000,000 ÷ 1,300 = $7,692.31 per household. What a bargain! /s
All funded by rate increases (to the tune of a whopping $3 billion dollars!)
very crued way to do the system-and it’s not building integrated pv (bipv). I guess since it’s not their money it’s not that important.
/johnny
Edison eventually needs to be eliminated from these solar projects.
In addition, like the article stated, the price for these new thin film panels is coming down and getting less expensive all the time.
Watch as this picks up, more investors jump in. Once these panels are installed on several thousand large buildings, the price of power will start dropping like gasoline is now.
You bet. And as the technology of thin solar panels evolves, it will only become less expensive.
Nothing puts out more power than the sun. We should take total advantage. I for one am very happy this is being pursued.
I wonder how long it will be before environmentalists start complaining about millions of these panels being discarded in landfills and them leaching pollutants into the surrounding groundwater.
Edison estimates that electricity from the Fontana facility costs about 27 cents a kilowatt hour, compared with an average of 8 cents a kilowatt hour from conventional generation.
In addition, solar cells can last decades.
See#4.
The price for thin film solar panels is coming down, and will continue to come down as solar energy technology progresses. And they can be rapidly produced and installed.
Whether you like it or not, solar power will play a big part in producing cheap, clean energy in the future.
I’m happy for this one...because it might make Huga Chavez sad.
Uh, it's not like were getting rid of the grid. When the sun goes down there will be no interruption. lol..
In addition, it's the warmer *daylight* hours where the demand needs to be met.
A win win.
My next hot water heater will be solar. I also have a solar battery charger. It’s great.
LOL. Change we can count on. Just keep repeating to yourself that it will get cheaper and tap them ruby slippers three times... and lo, your feet will hurt and your voice is hoarse and the costs still have not come down 300%. But, I do agree that alternate energy is a good idea...it just needs more work to become a great idea.
Gavin Newsome, is that you?
Those capable of critical thought, or any thought, understand that having multiple sources for electricity is a really good thing.
You invested in the electrical utility's? lol...
I'd bet a cup of coffee, in 60 years, this country will achieve about 30 percent of it's power, via solar energy.
That being said, if we had any real leadership in this country, we'd have a many dozens of nuclear power plants on line, with more under construction.
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