Nevada's largest private school goes solar
Bombard Renewable Energy installed a 1.1MW system for Faith Lutheran Middle School & High School; system used 4,000 SolarWorld panels.
SunPower to supply Sharp
Sharp will outsource some production of residential solar panels to SunPower; Sharp signed a contract to sell SunPower's modules under its own brand as part of its restructuring plans.
Why SolarCity's $1B valuation is too high
A price of $14/share implies a price-to-sales ratio of 8, higher than any other publicly traded solar co.; but if SolarCity maintains that price, it will have a positive effect on comparable solar stocks.
Segmenting California’s Commercial PV Market
Segmenting California’s Commercial PV Market
By Dhanur Grandhi
There are over 1.5 million commercial customers in California, more than in any other U.S state. On average, small and medium-sized businesses in California consume 64MWh (=64 average U.S. homes) and large businesses consume 520MWh (=520 homes) of electricity annually. These businesses have approximately 84,000 acres (=84,000 football fields) of roof area available for PV, more than in any other U.S. state. Businesses in California currently pay an average of 16.15c/kWh for electricity. This is 50% higher than the average U.S. commercial electricity price and the third-highest after Hawaii and New York.
All these factors make California an attractive market for Commercial PV. Not surprisingly, the state accounted for nearly 40% of all Non-Residential PV installed capacity in the U.S in 2011.
But unlike the Residential and Utility PV markets that deal with a largely homogenous set of site factors and project variables, the needs of Commercial PV customers are more discrete. For example, a space-constrained urban office building may use a solar carport system while a suburban warehouse may require a rooftop system. A hotel may see electricity demand peak at night while a school’s demand may peak in the afternoon. A vineyard may have a substantial electricity spend as percentage of operations, while a bank may spend lesser.
The discrete needs of Commercial PV customers will require targeted marketing and specialization. The purpose of this study is to help the segmentation effort - by disaggregating California’s stock of Commercial PV projects into key market segments and sub-segments. Our analysis covered 1,121 Commercial PV projects in California from November 2006 to 2012. Of the eight most popular Commercial PV market segments - Retail, Agriculture/Food Processing, Office, Service Providers and Healthcare accounted for 95% of systems and 97% of installed capacity.
Blue Oak Energy completes AZ's largest rooftop PV system
Blue Oak Energy announces completion of AZ's largest rooftop PV system - a 4.1MW installation at First Solar's Mesa facility, expected to begin operation by year-end.
Is solar power the next subprime crisis?
Think of SolarCity as a finance company - it sells 20-year leases with no money-down, bundles cash flows and sells to investors seeking tax advantages. That is subprime mortgage story.