Southern California Edison remained at the top of the rankings released today by the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA). The Association’s Top Ten rankings reveal which utilities in the
United States had the most solar electricity integrated into their energy mix as of the end of 2007.
The rankings are based on
information provided through a survey of utilities and independent research.
“Whether solar electric
systems are developed by utilities, their customers, or solar companies, the utilities’ proactive engagement with emerging solar
technologies is important to the solar industry as a whole," said Julia Hamm, SEPA executive director. "This market survey and resulting rankings provide a baseline against which
increased utility activity can be measured in the future.”
For total solar electric capacity by megawatt (MW), Southern California Edison (SCE), an Edison International company (NYSE: EIX) takes top honors as the most solar integrated
utility with the most overall solar capacity and solar capacity per customer. Southern California Edison’s long-standing contracts with the concentrating solar thermal (CST) plants drive its large number of solar megawatts.
However, with a
number of recent large-scale CST announcements by several other utilities, SCE’s top ranking may no longer
hold once these new plants are constructed.
In addition to overall rankings, additional top ten lists were released based on the amount of solar electricity interconnected to the
utility in two different configurations: customer side of the meter and utility side of the meter.
On the customer side of the meter, Pacific Gas & Electric took the honors for both the largest amount of overall solar capacity
and the highest MW per customer, but the latter category is in striking distance for several public power utilities.
On the utility side of
the meter, SCE is the highest ranked utility both for overall MW as well as MW per customer, which drove its
number one total ranking.
The list diversifies when you dive down further into the data and differentiate utility types.
On the customer side of the meter for public
power utilities, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power is the most solar integrated in overall capacity, while Kauai Island Utility
Cooperative (HI) has the highest capacity per customer.
California—with its long-standing policies for solar market development—represents the majority of the highest rankings, but utilities in
Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin also make the top ten in many
categories. Solar markets are expanding rapidly beyond California and when standardized by the number of customers, interesting
results will continue to emerge in the coming years.
Utilities have
traditionally operated as a solar facilitator, integrating customer developed projects. However, recently there have been several
announcements by utilities of new entrepreneurial ideas that provide fresh solutions to regulatory, customer and internal issues.
“These top ten rankings highlight solar-leading utilities that have put significant efforts into facilitating what have traditionally been
customer-based solar solutions,” says Mike Taylor, SEPA director of research. “What has become apparent however is that over the
next few years, there will be an unprecedented level of new utility engagement in the solar industry that develops both centralized and
distributed systems in new and unique ways. Several U.S. utilities, some of whom aren’t in these rankings yet, are positioning
themselves to be the solar industries largest and most innovative customers.”
The full report, which includes the rankings, is available for download at www.solarelectricpower.org.
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