PERIOD OF RE-EVALUATION FOR SOLAR POWER PLANTS

After a building boom, solar energy's prospects now aren't as sunny; The pace of solar development has slowed to a crawl, with a number of companies going out of business and major projects canceled.

Julie Cart, January 11, 2014 (LA Times)

“…[T]he pace of development [of large-scale solar power plants across the desert Southwest] has slowed to a crawl, with a number of companies going out of business and major projects canceled for lack of financing...Of the 365 federal solar applications since 2009, just 20 plants are on track to be built. Only three large-scale solar facilities have gone online, two in California and one in Nevada…Several factors are responsible, industry analysts say. The tight economy has made financing difficult to obtain, and the federal government has not said whether it will continue to offer tax credits…Another, somewhat unexpected issue is the difficulty solar developers are having negotiating agreements to sell their power to large utilities…[because] utilities in many states are on track to meet [renewables mandates], giving them less incentive to buy higher-priced solar energy —especially as a steep decline in natural gas prices has cut the cost of power…” click here for more

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