News

2 December 2008

 

First Solar completes 2MW plant for Southern California Edison

First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA, which makes thin-film photovoltaic modules based on cadmium telluride (CdTe), says that it has completed Southern California Edison’s (SCE) solar photovoltaic power plant installed on the rooftop of a commercial building in Fontana, CA. First Solar was selected in mid-July to engineer the rooftop system, manufacture the solar modules, and supply the balance-of-system equipment for the project.

The 2MW plant will generate enough electricity to supply about 1300 average Southern California households. This is the first project in SCE’s plan to install 250MW of solar generating capacity on large commercial rooftops throughout Southern California over the next five years. SCE is the largest electric utility in California, serving a population of more than 13 million via 4.8 million customer accounts in a 50,000-square-mile service area within Central, Coastal and Southern California.

SCE has also announced that, after a formal bid process, it has selected First Solar to install its 250MW rooftop initiative’s second project, a 1MW project on a commercial building in Chino, CA.

“SCE is leading the energy sector with its innovative strategy to use commercial rooftops in highly populated areas for new solar generation installations, selecting sites where customer peak demand is highest,” says John Carrington, First Solar’s executive VP of global marketing & business development. “SCE’s 250MW solar rooftop initiative brings essential energy sources to the grid quickly, supports California's economy with new green jobs, and protects our environment by developing more clean solar energy for Californians,” he adds.

“We are driving solar technology forward and identifying creative new ways to integrate solar power into the electricity grid,” says Edison International's chairman & CEO Ted Craver. “A program of this scale could transform solar generation, helping bring costs down and providing us with another important way to meet the environmental challenges of the future.”

See related items:

First Solar more than doubles revenue and income year-on-year

First Solar breaks ground on Ohio CdTe PV expansion

First Solar to expand manufacturing and development facilities in Ohio

First Solar announces two solar projects with Southern California Edison

Search: First Solar Thin-film photovoltaic modules CdTe

Visit: www.firstsolar.com