Petra Solar Inks Deal with New Jersey Utility for World’s Largest Pole Solar Project

[UndertheOcean]

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/gigaom/green/2009_07_29_petra_solar_inks_deal_with_new_jersey_utility_for_worlds_largest_pole_solar_project.html


Pole solar? Something about the moniker sounds unnerving, but not for New Jersey’s largest utility PSE&G and startup Petra Solar. PSE&G says that today it has received regulatory approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to build its own solar project that will cost $515 million, and will include the world’s largest installation of solar panels mounted on utility poles throughout New Jersey neighborhoods.

The entire solar project, dubbed “Solar 4 All,” which the utility will own, will include 40 MW, or 200,000 installations, of Petra Solar’s solar units on utility poles, and 40 MW of rooftop solar installations. PSE&G says the entire 80 MW project will double the solar capacity of New Jersey, and make the utility the largest owner of solar in the North East. The cost to PSE&G’s customers? The utility says an average of 10 cents a month for the first year of the program.

>>>Continued at link<<<

This doesn't qualify as LBN , but still noteworthy , all those poles already there should be put to use.

[UndertheOcean]

1. kick

[-wulf-]

2. Like the application

I've always felt that the best application for solar is point-of-use style systems. I would be happier if the solar panels were being used to store power in a battery to power it's associated street light for the night. The same amount of power would be generated and used, but at a fraction of the cost for the grid tie-in.

While the customer will only see 10 cents per month in added cost for the first year, that will not be what is paying for the system. Based on the cost of install, this system costs $6,437.50 per Kw which is better than it the average rate a couple of years ago of nearly 10,000 per Kw. Even if the system produced the full 80,000 Kw for eight hours every day (640,000 Kwh per day), that would be $64,256 worth of power a day, based on the rate the power company charges if you were to buy traditional power from them. At that rate, it would take 21.9 years for the system to generate 515 million dollars worth of power. This includes an annual increase in power rates.

These panels typically have a life span of twenty years, and the power output will decrease each year. Not to mention that there is no way it will produce full power for eight hours every day for 22 years.

The only way this makes sense is that they sell the "green credits" or an equivalent amount of power for a rate that is three or four times the normal rate of power. This makes no economic sense, but it works for people who want to feel better for using cleaner power and have the extra coin to pay for it.

In my area, "green" power like this is selling for twenty to thirty cents. The normal power only cost six cents.