Electric Co-op Today

Solar power may be on the verge of getting its day in the sun.

CRN is analyzing new business models that could bring solar power into the marketplace to benefit both co-ops and their members. (Photo By: Lincoln Electric Co-op)

“After 30 years of promise—and if you’ve been following solar at all, it’s been a lot of promise with not much delivery over a long period of time—we think we see the turning of a corner,” said Bob Gibson, senior program manager at NRECA’s Cooperative Research Network.

“When natural gas prices were high a year or two ago, the value of solar power was really big, because it could help replace some peaking power that could be quite expensive,” Gibson told the recent CRN Technology Summit Web conference.

A shift from crystal silicon cells to thin films is also helping drive the popularity of photovoltaic (PV) installations.

“Expect to see solar in more building construction in the future,” Gibson said, noting that things like PV-integrated roofing tiles, while still “a little bit of a novelty today” are becoming more commonplace. “It’s really on a fast upward curve.”

Gibson also cited an uptick in utility use of PV.

In 2008 there was an 80 percent growth in the amount of PV installed on utility lines, to about 340 MW of total capacity.

“There are now plans underway for more than 2,200 MW of PV power going on the grid, to be purchased or installed by U.S. utilities in the next five years.”

Today, Gibson said, PV is often viewed as being “expensive and disruptive to the utility, and totally customer-driven.”

But CRN is analyzing new business models that he said hold the potential of bringing solar power into the marketplace in a way that will “benefit both the co-op itself and its members.”

While PV is now in the 20–30 cents per kilowatt-hour range, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory predicts that by 2015, the average will be down to 10 cents/kwh for residences and 5–7 cents/kwh for businesses.

“It’s still optimistic, perhaps,” Gibson said. But, he added, “We’re seeing some evidence already that that could come true.”

Tags: Cooperative Research Network, Emerging Technologies, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy