UTILITIES USING SUN

2009 Top Ten Utility Solar Rankings
May 19, 2010 (Solar Electric Power Association)

"SEPA’s third annual Utility Solar Rankings report highlights the growing importance of utilities to diversification of the nation’s energy portfolio with more clean energy sources, including solar electricity. The Top Ten utilities’ solar megawatts grew 66% from 2008 to 2009, and they represented an estimated two-thirds of the nation’s solar installations in 2009. This growth can be partly attributed to the emerging trend of utility-scale and utility-owned projects…

"This growth has been fueled by significant price declines in solar installations – on the order of 40% or more in the last two years – and this change will continue to drive both customer solar market activity and spark or accelerate internal utility interest…"

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"…[1] The ten utilities with the most solar integrated into their grid…are still a focal point for the nation’s solar growth. The Top Ten Utilities’ solar megawatts grew from 192 megawatts (MW) added to the grid in 2008 to 279 MW in 2009, a 66% growth…[2] …The Top Ten Utilities’ share of the overall survey megawatts dropped from 88% in 2008 to 80% in 2009…showing a diversity of activity…[3]…2009 marked the beginning of change in market dynamics…[S]everal centralized or aggregated distributed solar projects…were built or began construction and several utilities…were directly involved in owning new solar projects. Installations on the utility side of the meter increased 267% from around 18 MW in 2008 to 65 MW in 2009 and made up 19% of the survey’s total, up from 9%…

"Once again, Pacific Gas & Electric (CA) topped the annual solar megawatts rankings with 85 MW installed in 2009, but was followed closely by Southern California Edison (CA) with 74 MW…an unprecedented 131% growth…Public Service Electric & Gas (NJ) moved up two spots to number three…Five of the Top Ten Utilities were from California…[Some of the utilities] were driven by distributed solar projects…[and others] can attribute their growth, in part, to the construction of new centralized PV plants. This trend that will continue in 2010…"

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"Solar megawatts integrated into each utility’s grid do not paint the entire picture. The rankings also reflect solar watts-per-customer to provide a measure of relative solar activity. Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative (AZ) emerged as the number one solar utility per customer in 2009 with 56 watts/customer, followed by Maui Electric (HI), Hawaii Electric Light (HI), the City of Santa Clara (CA), and Consumers Energy (MI)… With one exception, these utilities’ portfolios were entirely driven by distributed projects and were customer based…[O]nly three of the Top Ten Utilities were from California…

"These rankings snapshots of the annual solar megawatts and solar watts-per-customer paint a picture of utilities’ increasing involvement in the expanding solar market. Utilities in these Top Ten rankings continue to have a strong national and/or regional influence in their respective solar markets. However, as the number of utilities influencing their local solar markets increases, through a combination of consumer-, industry-, and utility-driven projects, the focus may be moving outside of this list…"