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| Science & Technology |
| First Solar begins large commercial rooftop project |
| 2008-07-16 |
| TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- First Solar Inc. [that is a real profit making investor owned company] said Wednesday it has begun building [that's right - not a lab project, not a demo, a real producing facility] the first rooftop solar system in a plan by Southern California Edison to [eventually] add 250 megawatts of solar power capacity to large commercial rooftops in Southern California. Southern California Edison's overall [10 year] plan calls for the 250 megawatts to be installed over the next five years in what would be the largest rooftop solar project proposed by a U.S. utility. First Solar began work on the initial 2 megawatt project July 14. The panels will be connected to California's power grid in September. -------- It is true that this is done because SoCal gets a tax credit; however, the FSLR thin film technology could get less expensive with economies of scale. I don't know if there is a good estimate of the total flat roof space available in the Southwest but I'd guess it would be enough for over a few gigawatts of capacity that could be installed without any loss of ag land. |
| Posted by:mhw |
| #5 There's also a project in the Phoenix metro area (a warehouse/distribution center, IIRC). |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-07-16 18:32 |
| #4 Moose, Here in Perth (similar climate to LA) rooftop solar hot water will heat water enough for domestic use 8 or 9 months of the year. Even in the middle of winter, a sunny day will give you enough hot water for a shower. However, solar hot water is still more expensive than gas over 20 years. The comparison is actually worse than that because electricity is used for auxiliary heating in the winter and is about 3 times more expensive than gas for heating. Of course that doesn't stop the government throwing huge subsidies at solar hot water. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2008-07-16 18:10 |
| #3 The bottom line for solar is marginal use. And while that doesn't sound like much, it is. Marginal use is the most expensive part of energy use, and even though it doesn't do much on the surface, it has a major impact. For example, just a black water tank on a roof will pre-heat softened water prior to it going into the water heater. This boost of between 20-30 degrees is marginal, but it saves a LOT of energy, by the water heater only having to raise its temperature by 20 degrees instead of between 40-50 degrees. If roof solar panels are used just to blow hot air out of a roof crawlspace, they will reduce the temp in there from maybe 150 degrees to only 110. In turn, this reduces the load on the main a/c by a huge amount when electricity is most expensive. Marginal matters big time. In the southwest, just these two things would take hundreds of dollars off your electricity bill every year. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-07-16 17:25 |
| #2 I think for that you need to use some of the super sekrit Tesla lightning bolt capture technology. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2008-07-16 15:57 |
| #1 could it produce 1.21 gigawatts? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-07-16 15:26 |