CHINA PV MAKES 2ND SAN DIEGO SALE

San Diego's Borrego Solar makes deal with Chinese supplier
Onell R. Soto, February 9, 2011 (San Diego Union-Tribune)

"Borrego Solar, a San Diego developer which focuses on commercial and government installations…has signed a supplier deal with a Chinese maker of photovoltaic panels…[another] sign of how Chinese solar panel makers are gaining a commanding market share of the growing industry in the United States.

"The deal comes a week after [Sempra Generation] another San Diego company, said it would get the solar panels for a massive solar farm it is building in the Arizona desert from [Chinese maker Suntech]…"

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"Borrego will double the capacity it is getting from Yingli…Yingli will supply more than half of the panels Borrego expects to install this year…Yingli panels were used on a 2.8-megawatt project for the San Diego Community College District and a 1.8-megawatt project for the San Diego County Water Authority.

"Sempra Generation said last week it would get [Suntech] panels for a 150-megawatt project it is building to supply Pacific Gas & Electric…Some of those panels will come from a Suntech plant in Arizona, but most will come from China…Sempra Generation is a sister company to San Diego Gas & Electric."

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"Chinese makers like Yingli have a cost advantage over U.S. suppliers, but are [said to be] capable of making top-notch products…Price is key to make sure that solar projects pencil out, that is, that the power they produce will be cheaper than buying power from the grid, once subsidies and financing costs are factored in…Quality is important to convince banks to lend money for projects that are often paid for over many years depending on how much power they produce.

"Borrego uses U.S.-made panels on jobs that require them, like those on military installations…But American manufacturers don't make enough panels to supply all its needs. [Borrego has not entered into a supplier deal before…but decided to do so this time to make sure it would have the panels needed for big projects it is building]…About half of Borrego's installations are in California, a third of them in San Diego…"