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In SEPA 2011 Ratings, PG&E Has the Number-One 'Place in the Sun'

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May 25, 2012

In SEPA 2011 Ratings, PG&E Has the Number-One 'Place in the Sun'

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

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Last year, solar electricity was the fastest-growing electric source in the United States, according to the comprehensive 2011 Utility Solar Rankings Report released by the Washington, D.C.-based Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), an educational non-profit dedicated to helping utilities integrate solar power into their energy portfolios.


The report found that during 2011, utilities interconnected more than 62,000 photovoltaic (PV) solar systems of all sizes. These new systems generated nearly 1,500 megawatts (MW) of new utility solar capacity – more than twice as much as was added in 2010, also a record year.

The findings of SEPA’s annual Utility Solar Rankings survey identify the most active utilities in the country, based on the amount of new solar power they added to their systems, and on the amount of new solar power relative to the number of customers they serve.

San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E (News - Alert)) ranked first and installed 288 MW of solar power. The company’s portfolio was about half large projects, including three utility owned projects totaling 50 MW and a Purchase Power Agreement (PPA), with the largest project completed in the United States in 2011.

PG&E also integrated more than 13,600 customer-sited projects.

Newark-based Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) ranked second, with a 181 MW portfolio, representing a 142-percent growth over 2010. PSE&G’s portfolio comprised 83 percent distributed projects and 13 percent utility owned.

Numbers three through 10 on the list of companies with top new solar MW installations include: Arizona Public Service, Southern California Edison (News - Alert), Atlantic City Electric (New Jersey), Jersey Central Power & Light, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Xcel Energy (Colorado), Long Island Power Authority (New York) and Xcel Energy (New Mexico).

The utility that showed the greatest growth was Xcel Energy–New Mexico, which made the leap from number 56 in 2010 to number 10 in 2011.

In terms of top megawatts-per-customer, the top five utilities were: Vineland Municipal Electric Utility (New Jersey), Blue Ridge Mt. Electric Membership Corp. (Georgia), Fayetteville Public Utilities (Tennessee), Arizona Public Service and Xcel Energy (New Mexico).

“In addition to the photovoltaic systems added by customers and third-party producers, much of the growth has come from the direct actions of utilities,” said Julia Hamm, SEPA President and CEO.

The findings show that 39 percent of new solar capacity came from utilities owning or contracting for solar power. Large solar projects – greater in capacity than 10 MW each –represented the bulk of this utility-led capacity. The remaining 61 percent can be attributed to residential and commercial installations.


(Source (News - Alert): SEPA 2011 Utility Solar Rankings Report)

The report, the fifth issued by SEPA, identified a number of trends in the industry:

Utilities are adapting to solar as their fastest growing electricity source. In 2011, utilities interconnected over 62,500 PV systems. Thirteen utilities interconnected more than 1,000 PV systems and 22 interconnected more than 500 systems. To put this in perspective, about 350 non-solar power plants (> 1 MW) were expected across the entire nation in 2011. 

This annual volume of smaller, distributed solar interconnections is unlike anything the utility industry has previously managed, and conservative forecasts indicate that this number will grow to more than 150,000 interconnections in 2015. The magnitude of these numbers poses strategic questions related to how utilities will physically process this volume of interconnection requests, how the distribution grid will accommodate this high-penetration growth, and how the utility and solar industries will resolve the economic implications of reduced sales of electricity.

For the fourth straight year, utilities integrated a record amount of new solar power, despite the recession. The nation’s most solar active utilities integrated almost 1,500 megawatts (MW-ac) of new solar, equivalent to six natural gas power plants – breaking the 1-gigawatt (GW) threshold for the first time.

In addition to the large number of PV systems, 15 utilities reported integrating more than 20 MW each, and eight reported adding more than 50 MW each. While residential homes accounted for more than 89 percent of the installations, commercial rooftop installations accounted for more than 53 percent of the capacity. These 2011 numbers represent a 38-percent growth in the number of installations and a 120-percent growth in the megawatts installed over 2010. SEPA expects continued growth in 2012, driven by sustained price decreases and a build-out of large solar power plant contracts.

Utility-driven solar procurement is vital to rapid solar market expansion. Utility-driven procurement represented 39 percent of the new solar capacity in 2011, versus 9 percent in 2008.

Relative to the more traditional customer-oriented market segment, this sector consists of direct wholesale purchases and utility-owned projects, which comprised 26 percent and 13 percent of the market, respectively.

Large solar projects (> 10 MW) make up the bulk of this capacity, with an estimated 18 projects totaling 332 MW – up from 226 MW in 2010. SEPA anticipates that this utility segment could increase to 1500 MW in 2012, equivalent to the 2011 market in its entirety.

“Today, the most solar-active utilities are no longer theoretically talking about solar in the future,” SEPA noted. “They are engaged with solar today in substantial ways. As solar markets grow, these utilities already are adapting to this rapid expansion and the operational and regulatory changes that it requires; and in the process, laying a path that other utilities will soon follow.”


Edited by Braden Becker

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