Signs of a coming boom in solar energy deployment are appearing as California prepares to adopt a solar feed-in tariff.
Solar developers are already securing rights to land and calculating that a 24 cents a kilowatt hour price for power will make their financial equations work.
“I think there will be a boom or (at least) a boomlet,” says Tim Keating, vice president of marketing at Skyline Solar.
Keating says his company is working with developers to secure a pipeline of projects to begin when the feed-in tariff kicks in. The projects range from 1 MW to 20 MW in size – modest compared to the large-scale 200 MW solar farms already proposed for the state – but significant nonetheless.
Skyline Solar, a Mountain View solar systems developer, isn’t alone. Land is being sought by other entrepreneurs eager to capitalize on the coming tariff.
Keating said a 24 cents price will make projects “bankable,” meaning that they will be able to qualify for private funding.
Legislation triggering the tariff takes effect on Jan. 1, though the California Public Utilities Commission has yet to enact regulations. A feed-in tariff sets a fixed price for renewable power that ratepayers subsidize with higher utility bills.
The tariff is seen as another tool to help the state reach its 33 percent renewables target by 2020.
Jean-Baptiste Su
Mark Boslet
chiahwu