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Little And Large Solar Power Companies Battle For Californian Market

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There is a battle brewing in California between the major solar power companies and the smaller ones.

All because energy giant Southern California Edison, plan to install 250 megawatts’ worth of solar panels on the roofs of warehouses.

On the face of it this seems a great idea. It would lower the cost of photovoltaic power, expand the market and transform currently vacant space into mini solar power plants.

However, this is not how the smaller solar power companies view it.

These smaller Californian solar power companies plus local trade groups are concerned that allowing a large utility company to install and operate such a large area of solar panels solely by themselves will begin to crowd out local competition.

Edison will argue that it's just business. And good business at that.

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For example, major solar cell company First Solar will be supplying 33,000 panels for the first phase of the project, a 600,000-square-foot rooftop installation in Fontana.

However, Southern California Edison intends to bid for union labor to install the solar systems itself. And with it's financial muscle it will have a good chance of winning.

This won’t leave many opportunities for solar installers such as SunPower or MMA Renewable Ventures.

Mark McLanahan of MMA Renewable Ventures says somewhat philosophically, "Even though this program is kind of taking bread out of our own mouth, the demand for solar will keep going up. What they have announced is extremely visionary. It’s game changing and opens up whole new realms of what solar can do. That’s exciting. On the other hand, it’s certainly possible that a young, growing industry that is pretty fragmented could be hurt by this rather than helped."

Some industry insiders unhappy with the situation have suggested opening up the program to competitive bidding for both the purchasing of the solar panels and the installation and upkeep of them.

Naturally, Edison’s not keen on that idea, saying it would work against the economies of scale it says it can bring to the program.

A difficult situation indeed but one I'm sure is going to crop up again and again as major industry wake up to the potential of solar energy.

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