June 19th, 2009

From Green Right Now Reports

The California Public Utilities Commission yesterday approved a plan by Southern California Edison to build the largest U.S. installation of advanced solar panels on otherwise unused large commercial rooftops across Southern California.

The installation will occur over the next five years and will result in 250 megawatts of solar generating capacity. The utility also will conduct competitive solicitations offering long-term power contracts to independent solar power providers who will install an additional 250 megawatts, bringing to 500 megawatts the total generating capacity of the project — the largest photovoltaic program ever undertaken.

SCE will employ about 150 sites to make up this program. The first, a 600,000-square-foot Fontana, Calif. distribution warehouse roof, currently holds 33,700 advanced thin-film solar panels with a generating capacity of 2.4 megawatts of direct current power. That site is the largest single rooftop solar photovoltaic array in the nation.

The utility has begun construction of a second installation atop a 458,000-square-foot industrial building in Chino, Calif. First Solar of Tempe, Ariz. was the winning bidder to supply panels for these first two installations.

SCE said it has identified numerous benefits to customers, the region and the state from the massive solar project:

• It will provide a new generation source to areas where customer demand is rising.
• The solar modules can be connected directly and quickly to the nearest neighborhood circuit while major new renewable energy transmission lines are being built.
• The output of solar panels generally matches peak customer demand — lower in the morning and evening, higher in the afternoon.
• The project will allow SCE grid engineers to study the electrical effects of a high penetration of photovoltaic on distribution circuits. The information gained will be shared with the industry.

SCE said it anticipates its solar power project will create as many as 800 new green jobs in Southern California in the solar industry. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, one of SCE’s project partners, is supporting the project through the expansion of its solar installation apprentice training program.