Utility to install solar on warehouse roofs

By SANDY SHORE

A utility is taking advantage of some little-used Southern California real estate for its next solar power project -- warehouse roofs.

Southern California Edison is leasing space on roofs of about 50 warehouses in the Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles to generate 250 megawatts of electricity from solar power.

The utility said Tuesday it has signed a five-year contract with SunPower Corp. to provide high-efficiency solar panels capable of generating about 200 megawatts, or about 80 percent of the total expected for the project. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

The warehouses, which primarily are massive freight distribution centers, solve some challenges for the utility because they are readily available in high-growth areas where land can be costly and they are within the grid, eliminating the need to build transmission lines.

"Certainly this was the pioneering effort," said Mark Nelson, Southern California Edison's director of generation planning and strategy. "I certainly know that other utilities have it in their sights. I think they needed someone to move first so that they could have a model to follow."

Under California law, investor-owned utilities are required to secure 20 percent of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010. State pollution regulators are crafting a mandate that would increase the standard to 33 percent by 2030.

Nelson estimated the cost at $40,000 a year per roof to lease the space for the panels.

Julie Blunden, Sunpower's public policy vice president, said the panel installations will be about 1 million to 2 million watts, depending on the amount of space on the roof. The first deliveries are expected later this year.

Shares of SunPower, which is based in San Jose, Calif., rose 89 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $21.

Southern California Edison an Edison International company based in Rosemead, Calif. Shares of Edison International rose 57 cents to $34.13 in afternoon trading.