SDG&E's PV Project: The Promise and the Peril
UCAN News
It took two years, but the PUC finally adopted a utility-based solar power project in San Diego. It borders upon insanity that the one city in the United States that is so blessed with sun is not leading the solar PV revolution. We've been out hustled by San Francisco, Santa Monica, Germany, Japan and countless other countries who can only dream to have San Diego's solar bounty.
This newly approved project could increase the amount of solar-generated power in San Diego County by 100MW -- approximately doubling the current solar output. SDG&E could spend up to $100 million putting 26 megawatts photovoltaic cells on land and buildings it owns in San Diego and purchase 74W from local solar generators. This is a decision that was supported by UCAN after it spent a year to work out details of the project with SDG&E and other stakeholders. The PUC's decision largely adopted the UCAN-SDG&E proposal.
It differed notably from larger solar projects approved for SCE and PG&E in that it is less expensive, more weighted to private market power projects rather than utility-owned ones, and is focused more on emerging applications of solar. So it is more future-oriented than the other utility PV projects.
One cautioning note: It is not a panacea. The 100MW of PV power that is expected from this project is only an incremental step towards greater adoption of PV. However, UCAN views it as an important step because it will be promoting more advanced forms of PV that are designed to produce more solar power later in the daytime. As San Diego's peak load shifts later and later in the day, projects designed to address that later peak time will help advance technologies that aren't getting sufficient attention at this time. In this way, the program is quite different from the ones designed by PG&E & SCE.
UCAN is also mindful that PV power will not be cheap. We wanted to keep the project limited to 100MW at this time so that we can promote lower cost PV projects for the future. So this project will not be truly successful unless it leads to appreciably lower cost PV installations over the next four years. We'll be monitoring the outcomes of the competitive bids that will be spawned by this project --- assuming SDG&E moves forward with it. If costs aren't coming down, we may petition to suspend the project.
For more details about the PUC decision, click here.
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Perhaps if San Diego solar rebates didn't expire...
If you ever wanted proof that our Public Utilities Commission is incompetent, just take a closer look at the state's solar rebate program - and it's allocation of resources. As always:
(1) Complicated - let me know if you REALLY think you understand the rationale behind the allocation
(2) Broken - if designed perfectly, all elements would be used at the same rate - lop-sided usage indicates lop-sided allocation of resources
So here we are once again - the sunnier parts of the state have used up a majority of their rebate allocation, while the cloudier parts of the state still have rebate money leftover. Who would have guessed it? Or to ask a slightly different question - why wouldn't anyone in the PUC have guessed it?
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