GE Bullish on Solar

March 1, 2012

Snowbirds aren’t the only folk flocking to the Sonoran Desert this winter. Hundreds of construction workers have moved to this sun-drenched stretch of rock and mesquite brush straddling the Arizona and California border to build massive solar farms, some financed in part by GE.

The company’sGE Energy Financial Services unit just invested $100 million in a 127-megawatt solar farm located near tiny Arlington, Arizona, population 194, about 40 miles west of Phoenix. Last fall, the unit said that it would help finance a 550-megawatt solar farm located across the state line, near Desert Center, California, population 204.

The power plants are as large as the towns are little. Together the two solar projects will generate more than half the amount of power produced by one unit of the nearby Palo Verde nuclear power plant.

Buena vista: Last October GE Energy Financial Services invested in this 50-megawatt solar power plant located in Badajoz, Spain.

The investment will swell the local population and open hundreds of constructions jobs. The projects will generate enough electricity to power 213,000 homes and displace 515,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year. That’s the same effect as taking 98,000 cars off the road.

GE Energy Financial Services has committed over $8 billion to renewable energy, with funding commitments for solar projects now reaching $1.4 billion. That’s more than twice the amount at the start of 2011.

Solar farms have become an attractive investment because innovation and technology efficiency have lowered costs and allowed operators build large-scale projects. “We made a conscious decision to try to grow our solar investment,” GE Energy Financial Services’ President and CEO Alex Urquhart told Reuters. “We’ve been successful, in fact more successful than we thought.” The unit’s gigawatt-size solar portfolio now spans 48 power plants in six countries in North America, Europe and Australia.

Kevin Walsh, managing director and leader of power and renewable energy at GE Energy Financial Services, said that the size of the largest solar projects skyrocketed over the last four years, from 11 megawatts in 2007 to 550 megawatts, as electricity production costs dropped as much as 70 percent, between 10 and 15 cents per kilowatt. “Those are compelling numbers,” Walsh said. “It got the utilities interested.”

GE Energy Financial Services has amassed an eclectic renewables investment roster: It has backed solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable energy projects. The unit has joined venture capital firms like Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners and invested in startups like Alta Devices (solar panels), Cool Planet Biofuels (biofuels), and A123 (batteries).

All this technology will soon make the snowbird’s winter desert nest cheaper and the good life even easier.


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  • Charles Bagnal

    Encouraging to see GE’s continued investment in new energy technology. Note, however… the article states, “Together the two solar projects will generate more than half the amount of power produced by one unit of the nearby Palo Verde nuclear power plant.” This is a bit of an overstatement. Considering the fact that the average nuclear plant operates 91% of the time, while the average solar facility provides electricity only 18% of the time, the combined output of the two solar projects will most likely generate only 10% of the power produced by one unit of the nearby Palo Verde nuclear plant.

  • Prakash

    550-megawatt from one solar farm!! Wow, that’s impressive!! Kudos to the solar team !!

  • Anthony Whipple

    I’m just curious what’s going on with the new Solar Panel Plant in Aurora, Colorado. Is it really going to start up this summer, if yes, when?

  • C, Kiran

    I think Solar cells farms and Biogas gas generation units are going to be game changer for future energy requirements.

  • Robert Moreau

    Hello, very promising to see EFS actively investing in Renewables projects and I will be interested to understand details of previous geothermal investment and how EFS could support our GE business in this space.
    Best regards
    Robert

  • Jarred

    I think it is awesome that GE is using solar power, however, how it is cheaper to have solar power like the last sentence claims? I’ve heard solar is the most expensive power source and still very inefficient. That power that brings half of one unit of a nuclear plant sure will take up a lot more space than a nuclear plant, and probably cost more.

  • John Miller

    I am a GE investor, and am very proud of owning stock in this great American company! It is great that GE is dedicated to solar power. It is an evolving technology. And, my understanding is that solar panels currently transform half the sunlight they receive into electric power. That is on par with coal, which is about 50% efficient.

    GE is currently working to cut the cost of solar panel installation for homes in half. Panels will get cheaper and more efficient. I personally am also in favor of nuclear power. All non-Carbon energy sources can be used together to power America and move our energy grid into the 21st Century.

  • Bill Lucas

    I think its important to understand the content of the article. It is great that GE Energy Financial has invested GE money in the project, but no where does it state who made the solar panels and controls. I would be interested in knowing who’s hardware GE Energy Financial funded.