New project sheds light on energy problem

Generating clean electricity that's as cheap as power from fossil fuels is a dream-come-true for green-energy companies. A new solar project powering California homes seems close enough.

Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy in San Diego, has unveiled a 10-megawatt solar farm in Nevada.

“We have an alternative energy source that can deliver cost-competitive electricity with no subsidies,'' said Mark Bachman, senior equity analyst for Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon.

The stock of First Solar, the Tempe, Arizona, company that manufactured the solar modules for the project, has soared 20 per cent since Bachman released his analysis.

The facility, known as El Dorado Energy Solar, is producing electricity at very low costs.

Sempra Generation constructed the project on 80 acres next to its El Dorado Energy gas-fired power plant in Boulder City, Nevada.

The facility uses photovoltaic panels such as those mounted on homeowners' roofs, except the panels — 167,000 of them — are anchored to the desert floor in rows.

First Solar uses a lower-cost semiconductor known as cadmium telluride, which it fashions into thin-film cells that are cheaper to manufacture than their silicon-based counterparts.

California law requires the state's investor-owned utilities to generate 20 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2010 . This helps create opportunities for clean-energy companies, including First Solar.