2 SNAPSHOTS OF SOLAR GROWING

SunPower to Dedicate 330 Megawatt Solar Cell Plant
July 27, 2007, (SolarBuzz)
and
PG&E Signs Agreement With Solel for 553 Megawatts of Solar Thermal Electric Power
July 25, 2007 (SolarBuzz)

1.
WHO
SunPower Corporation, CEO Tom Werner and COO PM Pai
Some noble achievements (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Will build “cell Fab 2,” its 2nd solar cell fabrication facility, with 10 Gen 2 solar cell production lines capable of producing 300 megawatts of solar cells/year/

WHEN
Dedicated July 30, 2007. Scheduled for full scale production by 2012.

WHERE
Plant will be in Batangas, the Phillipines (south of Manila)
SunPoswer headquarters are in San Jose, CA

WHY
Phillipines’ President Macapagal Arroyo and Secretary of Energy Raphael P. M. Lotilla among those at plant dedication.
IEA award-winning 463,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility w/energy efficient HVAC heating/cooling, recovered air water heating, LED lighting, etc.

QUOTES
Pai: "Fab 2 will enable us to manufacture the world's highest-efficiency solar cells while reducing the carbon footprint by 50 percent compared to other buildings of this size…We welcome President Arroyo and Secretary Lotilla as we dedicate our new facility."
Werner: "The inauguration of our second solar cell fab is an important step for SunPower…When fully built out, Fab 2 will quadruple our total manufacturing capacity and create economies of scale that are an important element in our plan to reduce installed solar system costs by 50 percent by 2012."
The new plant.


2.
The electricity created by this solar installion will be sent to northern and central California PG&E customers via Mojave Generation Station transmission equipment originally built for a now defunct coal-fired power plant.

PG&E’s participation in projects like this is motivated by its intention to meet California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirement to generate 20% of electricity from renewables by 2010. PG&E now generates 12% with contracts for other solar, wind and geothermal which will soon get them to 18%.

WHO
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Fong Wan, vp; Solel Solar Systems (Avi Brenmiller, ceo) and subsidiary Solel-MSP-1

WHAT
PG&E and Solel will partner on Mojave Solar Park, a 553 megawatt, 9 square mile concentrating solar facility, “the world's largest single solar commitment.”

WHEN
The Solel parabolic troughs have been used in Mojave Desert for 20 years. The technique presently produces 354 megawatts at various locations. Mojave Solar Park is expected to be in full operation in 2011.

WHERE
The facility will be in California’s Mojave Desert. Solel Solar Systems has headquarters, manufacturing & R&D facilities in Beit Shemesh, Israel with U.S. offices in Los Angeles, California. PG&E is based in San Francisco.
The parabolic mirror trough, the tubing with the heated fluid passing through and the sun.

WHY
- In Solel’s “patented and commercially-proven” concentrating solar system, tubing carrying fluid passes through parabolic mirror troughs which concentrate solar energy on the fluid in the tubing. The heated fluid generates steam which drives a turbine to produce electricity.
- Mojave Solar Park: 9 square miles of Mojave Desert (6,000 acres), 1.2 million mirrors, 317 miles of vacuum tubing.

QUOTES
- Wan: "The solar thermal project announced today is another major milestone in realizing our goal to supply 20 percent of our customers' energy needs with clean renewable energy…Through the agreement with Solel, we can harness the sun's climate-friendly power to provide our customers with reliable and cost-effective energy on an unprecedented scale."
- Brenmiller: "We are thrilled to bring 553 MW of clean energy to California…Our proven solar technology means Solel can economically turn the energy of the warm California sun into clean power for the state's homes and businesses."