Analyst: SunEdison's 9.1MW Plant Maps The Solar Road For Utilities
The opening of SunEdison's new 9.1MW solar PV power plant in Canada reflects a confluence of factors from financing and incentives to increased interest from utilities --- which together are poised to "drastically change the nature of the PV market in North America," according to one analyst.
The 90-acre "First Light" site in Stone Mills, Ontario -- jointly developed by SunEdison and SkyPower, financed by Nord/LB Group, and spurred by Ontario's Green Energy Act -- incorporates ~126,000 ground-mounted thin-film PV panels. It started sending energy on Sept. 30 to Hydro One, the region's largest electricity transmission/distribution company; first-year expectations are for output of >11.5M kWh (enough to power ~1000 homes) and a projected 210M kWh over 20 years (42,000 homes).
Besides the promise of renewable energy for thousands, the SunEdison plant represents "a harbinger of utility projects to come in North America," according to Alfonso Velosa III, research director at Gartner, in a recent research note. The solar PV market's original focus was on residential and corporate projects, installs ranging in size from ~1kW to 3MW that live on the end-user side of the equation, he notes.
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