What is it?
General Electric Co (GE) has a fine record of persevering with many sustainability projects over the years, which has in effect already transformed them into the leading producers of wind and natural gas-powered electric turbines in the world, and also generated about $6 billion of revenue in their annual sales. Since then, they have made a spirited foray into the profitable industry of solar energy in 2007. So continuing on with that trend, and rather notching up a level, the world’s second largest company has announced its plans of building a whole new solar panel factory in the U.S.
How big is it?
Taking a cue from the increasing marketability potential of thin-film solar cells (TFSC), GE believes that solar energy production could be a $3 billion business by 2015. And going along with that crucial prediction, GE has decided to invest a whopping sum of $600 million for this upcoming mega project. The venture is touted to be a 400-megawatt manufacturing facility for thin film solar panels, which will employ around 400 people and cater to more than 80,000 homes for clean electricity supply. But, the price competition is expected to be very intense, especially in view of another “green” giant, First Solar Inc. utilizing the same thin-film technology.
How green is it?
As already mentioned, this 400MW plant is expected to have a substantial capacity for supplying around 80,000 homes. Coming to the advanced thin film technology, the plant will be producing Cadmium Telluride (CdTe)-based solar cells. Now thin-film CdTe provides one of the most cost-effective solar cell designs (the only thin film photovoltaic technology to surpass crystalline silicon PV in cheapness), and moreover they have also been certified as the most energy efficient of their kind by the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado.
The predecessors:
1. North America’s second largest solar photovoltaic system:
North America’s second largest solar photovoltaic system is situated in the Nellis Air Force Base in Clark County, Nevada. This 14MW solar energy system generates in excess of 30 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually and supplies more than 25 percent of the power used at the base (around 12,000 people). According to figures, this plant has more than 70,000 solar panels, and is expected to save about $1 million just in power costs annually. But most importantly it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 24,000 tons each year.
2. Sierra SunTower:
The only CSP (concentrating solar power) tower facility operating in North America, this mega system has a capacity of more than 5MW for providing power to up to 4,000 homes. Located in Lancaster, California the site occupies approximately 8 hectares (20 acres), adjacent to the Mojave Desert. Figures say, Sierra SunTower reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 7,000 tons per year, which is equivalent to planting 5,265 acres (21.31 sq km) of trees!
The successors:
1. Sempra Energy’s (SRE) merchant generation unit:
First Solar is already all set to build a 48-megawatt solar farm for Sempra in Boulder City, Nevada. But next in the pipeline, according to Sempra is an even more ambitious plan. The grand plan calls for building of solar plants with more than 500 MW in capacity, in the company’s 4000 acres land in Phoenix.
2. U.S. Army’s solar plans:
The U.S. Army will make a collaborative effort with Irwin Security Partners for a huge renewable power project. The agreement is to construct a $2 billion solar power plant project that would be spread over 14,000 acres of land at Fort Irwin. The plant is planned to generate around 500MW of clean power to be used by the Fort Irwin base, and the extra bulk is to be sold commercially to power grid suppliers.
