Sempra solar energy project makes advances in costs

First Solar uses a lower-cost semiconductor known as cadmium telluride, which it fashions into so-called thin-film cells that are cheaper to manufacture than their silicon-based counterparts.

"It's like the Wal-Mart of solar panels," Allman said.

Allman said Sempra planned to install an additional 50 megawatts of First Solar panels at the El Dorado site. He said Sempra was looking to do a much bigger project of about 500 megawatts adjacent to its Mesquite Power Generating Station, a gas-fired plant near Phoenix.

First Solar's technology is proving popular with Southern California energy companies looking to do supersized solar projects. Southern California Edison last year placed the company's modules on a 600,000-square-foot Fontana warehouse, the first of 150 commercial buildings the Rosemead utility hopes to cover with photovoltaics. If approved by state regulators, that project would total 250 megawatts.

California law requires the state's investor-owned utilities to generate 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010, a figure that's set to increase to 33% by 2020. The state also has committed to cutting its greenhouse gases dramatically. Those mandates are creating opportunities for all manner of clean-energy companies, including First Solar.

For the first nine months of 2008, First Solar posted revenue of $812.7 million and net income of $215.6 million. Those figures were more than double the results of the same period a year earlier.

Some energy wonks are likely to dispute Bachman's conclusion that the El Dorado project has achieved grid parity. Most focus on the per-watt installation cost of such systems.

What's clear is that the costs of solar power are dropping dramatically across the industry as the technology is more widely adopted and producers become more efficient. First Solar Chief Executive Michael J. Ahearn said his company had cut the cost of manufacturing its modules by 67% over the last four years.

"The photovoltaic industry," Ahearn said, "is much closer to generating affordable solar power than most people realize."

--

marla.dickerson@latimes.com