SEPA sees growing utility interest in owning solar units if US PTC impasse is resolved

摘要

The Solar Electric Power Association said Thursday it expects utilities to "quickly become the largest and one of the most important customers for the solar industry," but its director of research acknowledged in a conference call that the impasse over renewing the federal production tax credit for renewable energy is hindering growth. "The tax credit issue is putting a lot of plants on hold," noted Mike Taylor, during the call. California utilities generally occupy the top ranks of solar development, SEPA said in its "First Annual Top Ten Utility Solar Integration Rankings," also released July 24. Southern California Edison leads all US utilities in the amount of solar power it has integrated into its system, according to the report, which found SCE has both the most overall solar capacity and the most solar capacity per customer, mainly its "concentrating solar thermal" SEGS units in the Mohave Desert. The report also counts photovoltaic capacity, but SEPA noted that it is tougher to come up with those numbers given the thousands of small systems.