CA BIG SUN GETS SMART

Some good news: Fewer solar projects in Cali will fail in the future
Ucilia Wang, February 3, 2012 (GigaOm)

"All of those wind and solar power projects you hear about being built in California actually have a pretty high failure rate of around 30-40 percent, according to regulators and utilities…[but] that failure rate is expected to come down significantly now that the these markets are maturing and utilities are seeing better prepared and managed projects…

"Developers these days tend to already have secured land and are often times far further along in the permitting process…[T]he utility also is seeing more developers bidding for projects…[T]he failure rate [is expected] to drop based on the various recent analyses…[but] those analyses don’t add up to one number that characterizes the overall decline…"

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"…[O]verall the state’s utilities are more confident that they can meet the state’s renewable energy mandate. But at the same time it also means that the clean power developers could see less deals coming their way — another hurdle for the battered solar and wind industries this year...First Solar’s interim CEO, Michael Ahearn, cited the dropping amount of new deals in California as one of the reasons that the company must seek opportunities elsewhere around the world in order to continue its growth.

"Thanks in part to the federal government’s now defunct loan guarantee program, companies such as First Solar, SunPower and BrightSource Energy are building solar power plants that are hundreds of megawatts each…PG&E, for one, has lined up enough power purchase contracts to meet its goal through 2016…[D]evelopers like First Solar, which also makes solar panels and other equipment, now expects much fewer opportunities to develop mega projects like the two projects of 550 MW each that First Solar is building in California now…"