Sempra Generation quickly expands solar facility

Sempra Generation is expanding their 10MW thin-film solar PV plant near Boulder City, NV from 10MW to 58MW, contingent on obtaining a power purchase agreement for the additional power.

In December of 2008, Sempra was proud to commission their existing 10MW thin-film based power generation station in the Eldorado Valley near Boulder City, NV, near the existing Nevada Solar One 64MW solar thermal facility. The energy from the 10MW is sold to PG&E of northern California.

Now, only four months later they’re announcing that facility’s first expansion up to 58MW, an addition of 48MW and approximately 800,000 First Solar thin-film solar PV panels. The expansion is contingent on a power purchase agreement. Sempra Generation said that it had available cash to fund this project and isn’t relying on financing, rather they will self-finance.

First Solar, the PV module manufacturer, announced in February that it had crossed the $1/W manufacturing threshold. The $1/W price tag comes with a catch – the thin-film panels produced by First Solar are less efficient than traditional PV panels from a land area perspective. While traditional PV manufacturers offer panels that ouput between 225 and 315W, First Solar offers smaller sized panels (0.72 vs. 1.6 sq meters) from 60-77.5W, roughly one half of the solar conversion efficiency.

This results in more cost per W installed when compared to traditional PV – more panels, more freight, more labor to install, etc. However, given the race between traditional PV and thin film, it appears that thin film is leading by a hair in terms of costs.