Daggett solar plant might not be built (SCE 5MW)
PUC reverses approval; bidding company set to dissolve

source: Kelly Donovan Desert Dispatch 2004.8.17

DAGGETT -- A solar power plant that backers had planned to build in Daggett this year might not come to fruition.

Plans for the facility hit a snag late this spring when the California Public Utilities Commission reversed its prior approval of a contract between the facility's developer, TrueSolar Solutions, and Southern California Edison Co., which would have bought the power from the facilities.

The Public Utilities Commission threw out its previous approval after agreeing with one of various arguments against it from a San Francisco-based advocacy group, The Utility Reform Network.

Commissioners agreed with TURN that Edison's bid approval process for the project wasn't reasonable.

Its request for proposals indicated that bids would be ranked in order of the lowest cost to ratepayers, but the company selected TrueSolar, the bidder with the highest ratepayer cost, according to the commission's order.

The commission decision allows Southern California Edison to accept bids again, and TrueSolar could submit.

So far, Edison and TrueSolar haven't taken any steps to proceed.

Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said his company would still be interested in pursuing the project, but said he thinks whether to move forward is up to TrueSolar.

Meanwhile, TrueSolar and its parent company, True Pricing, probably won't exist much longer.

Their majority owner, UniSource Energy Corp., plans to dissolve the companies, UniSource Senior Vice President Mike DeConcini said Friday.

If UniSource were to proceed with the plant, it would probably use one of its other companies, Tucson-based Global Solar, DeConcini said. There are no plans in the works, though.

"We might still be interested in doing something in the future, but there's no discussion ongoing about it," DeConcini said.

The plant would have used photovoltaic technology -- solar panels like those used on rooftops.

At 5 megawatts, its capacity would be a fraction of that of the world's two largest solar plants north of Hinkley, which are 150 and 160 megawatts. One megawatt is enough energy to power 750 to 1,000 homes for a year.

The facility, however, would have been the largest plant running entirely on solar panels. Unlike most plants, no turbines would be involved. Instead, the panels take convert the sun's energy directly into electricity.

Early Story - PUC approves SCE 5 MW project. 2003.12.23