Solar Goes Grid Scale
First Solar has signed its second PPA with a California utility. The company will develop, sell (to outside equity/fixed investors) 550 MW of production, under 20 year, fixed power price terms, and then construct the capacity during 2011-2. FSLR has one more project of similar size in the queue. This is the wave of Things to Come in the US, although only in California (and mid day) is solar really economic at present. Observation – Despite continued difficulties financing wind projects in Europe, syndicates for PPA-based projects in the US are finding great demand from pension funds. This evolution, a little too late to rescue 2010, could be a major factor in the US solar/wind industry from 2011 onward.