Solar industry fights utility’s big solar project

Way to go. That’s will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. Also the panels will provide shade for the warehouses thus reducing any airconditioning required. Remember China and the big hydro built over the Three Gorges. They did the right thing despite of all the protests from many places. How much that have replaced the oil and gas required for many years to come.

Read the fine print…SCE customers will realize another rate hike! SCE is already levies the highest energy rate hikes in the industry in California. Now its customers get to pay again. I’m more than all for solar. We as a country desperately need a renewable energy program thats breaks our foreign oil addiction. And we must have the Federal Investement tax credits renewed for green energy, which have failed now 8 times on Capital Hill. However as an SCE customer I don’t understand why we can’t create solar power generation without further 25-30% rate hikes in a huge area of the State that the PUC already allows SCE to overcharge! Go Solar, Not more price hikes for overburdened SCE constituents.

The idea of giving First Solar every single government contract ralated to solar power is the biggest problem – they are a company built on German subsidies and now are moving to survive on the backs of American subsidies. Every industrial solar producer should be give a small scale project to produce – with a project outline and budget defined by edison – that would least open up the competition and produce the incentive for innovation and increased efficiency. Putting all of our solar eggs in one basket will stifle the market in traditional american strong arm the market style. Having a public utility develop large solar programs is not the problem – the Sacramento Municipal Utility District has been doing it for years. The problem is crowding out any competition in favor of the biggest player.

I say to all the litigators, go build your own solar plants and take on all the risks. If you are successful the California utilities will be forced to buy your electricity due to the 20% renewable energy mandate. Just remember what you wish for, you just might get it. And when the solar producers have to pay out big bucks because they cannot meet the guarantees they have in their Power Purchase Agreements with the utilities, the solar companies will be crying a river.

This is the best idea I have heard for getting solar to everyone. By mass distribution of solar panels the amount of electrical generation will be so much more than just large solar farms in the desert. What is your thoughts of the power companies in New England doing the same this so we can stop the buring of millions of gallons burned daily during the winter in oil burning furnaces? Electric heaters powered by solar sounds like a quick easy solution. Thoughts?

Surprise! Politicians & Edison are in bed together. This will still be helpful for pushing solar panels towards comodity status.

Expect them to gain commodity status only when China starts supplying them. American and European companies have demonstrated time and time again they are too greedy to accept anything less than a profit margin of 1000%. And if they have a design that barely works but sells, that is more than good enough to stifle any further innovation. Just like oil and gas today.

Competitors should stop whining and design solar panels with great enough solar conversion efficiency to be useful in the northeast during winter months. That’s when we know’ll we’ll have made it.

Another case where so-called “green” groups scream if they see their opprotunity to capitalize on it goes under. If they are concerned about the environment, back the effort.

As they say on Jeopardy, “What is greener than green”?

They need to adapt. They need to not hinder progress. Amazing laptops with 100x the power and amazing features are now cheaper than the original basic function calculators from the 70’s. Prices come down as more and more people buy the technology.

Small solar companies will need to adapt. They can’t claim to be all about the environment and only concerned about the green in their pockets.

Let them move forward on the project but deny them the rate hike to pay for it. Rather than having the end user pay for the project, let the producer “invest” their own capital.

[...the utility’s attorneys wrote in a brief filed with the utilities commission, which must approve the program. “In so doing, a solar PV program can improve efficiencies … to reduce costs and jump start the competitiveness of solar PV for widespread application on California roofs.”]

This program will in no way improve PV efficiencies. Lawyers lose credibility when they say ignorant things.

This is where it gets complicated. We need sustainable renewable energy, everyone agrees – no arguments.

The issue is if the energy company gets complete control using taxpayer dollar to set it in motion then we pay for it now and in the future when they raise the rates.

We also shut out competitive products from trying to make a living. I surely do not have all the answers or the legal knowhow to solve the issue.

What I do understand is that the utilities cannot strip the earth to get oil, then grab the sun and sell it back to us when in reality we all own it originally.

There needs to be a rational here to move forward on sustainable renewable energy and keep it controlled by the consumer not the power companies, especially when they use our dollars to develop the project.

Steve you must live in a 8 bedroom home.

Privately held utility companies should be allowed to add generating capacity to their grid without competitive bidding.

Electric cooperatives should allow cooperative members an opportunity to participate in the addition of grid capacity and the revenues from such projects.

Chris from Denver – very intelligent comment. I don’t have solar on my home because it would cost $50k (after government subsidies which us U.S. TAXPAYERS pay for), that I don’t have and would still need grid-back-up. Does that mean I hate America? Your ignorance and inflammatory language is not helpful to the debate.

actually you turn DOWN an air conditioner to make the indoor environment cooler – not up

if everyone turned them up, that would be conservation – once again, the libs are dead wrong

gotta luv wombat reportering

Uh….competition matters. Putting the competition out of business == monopoly. That means high prices.

Msft Windows == crappy software you have to use because nobody else is in the market (much).

Are the arguments from companies which are selling solar generated power? (I.E. Company X owns ten megawatts of Solar panel capacity and sells it to the grid) or companies which sell solar power components, (Solar panels, harnesses etc…) If there is energy there, heating buildings and increasing AC costs, that could be harnessed without negative side effects such as polluting the fastes way there is the best for the overall economy. Huge monopolies such as SCE are generally due to government regulation that allows them to become huge. They are inherently ineffecient (based on governmental processes) in the same way that government is inherently ineffecient and will collapse if the regulations which allow their existence are removed, however they leave behind valuable infrastructure that the free market is able to distribute and value. Let it happen, the US needs every penny we have, not to be pouring our wealth offshore just to waste what we buy (Oil, cheap crap from China)

Wow. I’m all for solar energy but this sounds like a grab by the big utilities to put their smaller competitors out of business. This wreaks of WalMart-style competition. Can anyone say “Microsoft”?

Anyone standing in the way of adding solar power capacity on rooftops is helping the terrorists and hates America.

Eh those protesters are idiots. If a large company is backing solar energy its good for everyone.

Isn’t the goal here a renewable, clean form of energy generation? Who cares who gets the profits?