DOE will guarantee the loan through the U.S. Treasury's Federal Financing Bank, allowing Solyndra to build a new solar panel fabrication facility in California. The loan will cover 73% of the cost of the new facility, which will be capable of producing enough solar panels each year to generate 500 MW of solar power.
Solyndra estimates the facility will employ 3,000 people during its construction, and its operation will create nearly 1,000 U.S. jobs. In addition, hundreds of technicians will be needed to install the solar panels at projects located throughout the U.S. See the DOE and Solyndra press releases, the Web site for the DOE Loan Guarantee Program, and Solyndra's overview of its solar panel technology.
Solar Energy Grew at a Record Pace in 2008
Solar deployment increased at a record pace in the U.S. and throughout the world in 2008. Last week, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released its "2008 U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review," which found that U.S. solar energy capacity increased by 17% last year, reaching the equivalent of 8,775 MW: 342 MW of solar PV, 139 thermal MW of solar water heating, 762 thermal MW of pool heating, and 21 thermal MW of solar space heating and cooling.
The growth rate was highest for grid-connected PV electric systems, which increased by 58% to a total of 792 MW. California dominated this category, installing 178.6 MW of grid-tied PV, but the largest PV system, at 10 MW, was built in Boulder City, Nevada. Meanwhile, domestic PV manufacturing capacity increased by 65%, and preliminary estimates peg the total U.S. PV manufacturing capacity at 685 MW per year as of the end of 2008. See the SEIA press release and the full report (PDF 2.6 MB).
That growth rate is still dwarfed by the world's fastest-growing PV markets, namely, Spain and Germany. According to Solarbuzz, Spain added 2,460 MW of solar PV power in 2008, while Germany added 1,860 MW of PV power, leaving the U.S. in a distant third place. Solarbuzz estimates global market growth at 5,950 MW in 2008. World PV production reached 6,850 MW per year in 2008, a significant jump up from the capacity of 3,440 MW per year for 2007. Contributing to that rapid growth, the production of thin-film solar modules more than doubled, reaching 890 MW per year by the end of 2008. See the Solarbuzz press release.
Georgia Power Wins Approval to Switch Coal Plant to Biomass Power
The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved a request from Georgia Power Company to convert its Plant Mitchell Unit 3 from a coal-fired power plant to a biomass power plant. Located near Albany, Georgia, the facility will produce 96 MW of power once the conversion is completed in June 2012, making it one of the largest biomass power plants in the U.S.
It will draw on surplus wood fuel from suppliers within a 100-mile radius of the plant. Georgia Power, the largest subsidiary of Southern Company, requested the conversion last summer and plans to begin the conversion by spring of 2011. The Georgia PSC approved Georgia Power's request last week, while also approving the utility's construction of two new nuclear power units at its Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in southeast Georgia. See the Southern Company press release on the initial request and the press release on the approval from the Georgia PSC (PDF 153 KB).
