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SunPower on Thursday announced two deals with Florida Power & Light to build 35 megawatts worth of electricity, including an installation at the Kennedy Space Station. The deals are the largest to date for SunPower, which makes and installs solar photovoltaic panels.

LOS ANGELES - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed Sen. John McCain in the Republican presidential race on Thursday, praising him as an "extraordinary leader" who can reach across the political aisle to get things done. At a news conference, Schwarzenegger said McCain has the national security credentials to do the job, and is a "crusader against wasteful spending." Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also attended the event, one day after he dropped out of the race and threw his support behind his longtime friend. McCain is counting on both men — Schwarzenegger in California and Giuliani in New York...

Investor's Business DailyAcquisition Of Solar Installer Warms SunPower's FutureWednesday December 27, 7:00 pm ETBrian Womack The math isn't complicated for the solar energy sector.The industry wants to cut solar prices by roughly half to compete against traditional power utilities without government incentives. SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR - News), a major solar panel maker, has been a leader in this effort and recently announced one of the biggest acquisitions in the industry's history to help the San Jose, Calif., company reach that goal.The company plans to buy PowerLight, a firm that installs solar panels, for about $330 million. The cash-and-stock deal should close...

State to embark on its biggest-ever photovoltaic project When the sun rises on New Year's Day, it will signal the start of California's most ambitious effort yet to generate electricity from sunlight. HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune California hopes to subsidize the installation of enough photovoltaic systems, like this one atop a Qualcomm building in Sorrento Mesa, to generate 3,000 megawatts of solar electricity. That could power nearly 3 million homes on a sunny day. The California Solar Initiative commits the state to spending more than $3.4 billion over the next 10 years to subsidize the installation of 1 million solar...

If California's $3.4 billion solar initiative succeeds in promoting 1 million more rooftop, solar-electric systems, it could still be considered a failure. That's because the 10-year program, set to begin next month, aims to do more than just subsidize installations. It's also intended to make solar electricity's cost comparable to the power provided by utilities. Today it costs twice as much. If solar costs could be made competitive, the impact would be profound. Most conventional power is produced by burning coal or natural gas, making the electric-generation industry a leading source of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Cheap and...

SAN JOSE As demand for clean energy rises around the world, the nation's high tech hub is finding new ways to squeeze money from silicon. Silicon Valley, named for the material used to make computer chips, is applying its expertise to design and manufacture silicon solar cells that convert sunlight into electricity. Advocates hope the region's engineers and entrepreneurs will help make solar competitive with traditional energy sources such as coal and natural gas. "We're in the very early stages of a long build-out in solar technology," predicted Erik Straser, who heads the "cleantech" practice at the Menlo Park venture...

SAN FRANCISCO - Venture capitalist John Doerr made his name and fortune with early investments in Netscape Communications Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and other pioneering tech firms that went from scrappy startups to household names. Now Doerr and his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, are placing big bets on an emerging sector he calls "green technology," one he believes could become as lucrative as information technology and biotechnology. Menlo Park-based Kleiner Perkins plans to set aside $100 million of its latest $600 million fund for technologies that help provide cleaner energy, transportation, air and water. That's on top...

California citizens will pay at least $3.2 billion over the next 11 years to finance a costly solar energy initiative rejected by the state's legislature in fall 2005 but implemented by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on December 13. Observers quickly derided CPUC's decision, the California Solar Initiative, as demonstrating deliberate disregard for the state's democratic processes. Initiative Mirrors Failed Bill CPUC's California Solar Initiative is virtually identical to S.B. 1, the Million Solar Roofs proposal that was supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) but died in the state assembly in September 2005. S.B. 1 aimed to place solar...

California regulators on Thursday allocated $300 million collected from electricity customers to subsidize purchases and installation of solar energy units in 2006. The action was aimed at "jump starting our implementation of what was originally called the governor's million solar roofs initiative," said California Public Utilities Commission President Mike Peevey. That proposal was "a marquee idea of the governor's ... legislative agenda (but) got bogged down in politics in Sacramento," said PUC member Susan Kennedy, who attended her last meeting after being tapped to become chief of staff for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. A broader plan that would tap ratepayers for...

Solar cell manufacturer SunPower is expected to announce today that it has won a $330 million contract to supply solar cells to a global solar systems installer, PowerLight, over the next five years. The deal is the biggest in Sunnyvale-based SunPower's history and will help it expand its manufacturing capacity over time, said Tom Werner, chief executive of SunPower. The announcement also comes on the heels of the plan unveiled this week by state regulators to provide $3.2 billion in incentives over the next decade to encourage Californians to use solar panels on homes and office buildings. The incentive plan...

GOV. ARNOLD Schwarzenegger is making a high-profile trade trip to China this week. It's supposed to benefit you and me by opening up Chinese markets for California goods. But the guest list is a dead giveaway: Of the 80 businessmen, government officials and others accompanying the governor, about two dozen are big-bucks Schwarzenegger supporters who have together contributed more than $2.5 million to his campaign committees. For many of these Schwarzenegger donors, this China junket is more likely to help their own companies than California. And in some cases, that might actually do the rest of us harm. Consider venture...