On August 14, 2008, Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced that it had entered into two utility-scale, photovoltaic (PV) solar power contracts for a total of 800 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy. This significant commitment to photovoltaic technology will deliver cumulatively 1.65 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy annually. This would be equivalent to the amount of energy needed to serve approximately 239,000 residential homes each year. Does this mean photovoltaic (PV)-based solar panel has hit primetime (instead of thermal solar)? Listen directly from SunPower's CEO Tom Werner which recently gave Stacey Delo of MarketWatch an exclusive interview on Aug 14, 2008:

Source: MarketWatch

How about thermal solar?
So, is photovoltaic (PV) ready for primetime not only in the US but also in Europe? Thermal solar technology has lower production cost advantage over PV. Santiago Seaga, CEO of Abengoa Solar (who favors thermal solar) talks about how thermal solar harvests the sun's rays to turn water into steam, driving a turbine and creating electricity, even at night. According to him, thermal solar is cheaper to produce than photovoltaic solar.

Source: MarketWatch

Key data on renewable energy: (source: Energy Information Administration (EIA))

Prudent investors in the renewable energy sector should at least read and analyze the fundamentals of the renewable energy. Key data for investors to consider:

The Role of Renewable Energy Consumption in the Nation’s Energy Supply, 2007

Source: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels Chart data.. Here is the entire report in pdf format

Renewable Energy Consumption and Electricity Preliminary 2007 Statistics from EIA:

Table Title		Formats
		HTML	PDF		EXCEL
1.	U.S. Energy Consumption by Energy Source, 2003-2007
2.	Renewable Energy Consumption by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source, 2003-2007
3.	Electricity Net Generation From Renewable Energy by Energy Use Sector and Energy Source, 2003-2007
4.	U.S. Electric Net Summer Capacity by Energy Source, 2003-2007
5.	Total Renewable Net Generation by Energy Source and State, 2006
6.	Total Renewable Net Generation by Energy Source and State, 2007
7.	Total Renewable Net Summer Capacity by Energy Source and State, 2006
8.	Total Renewable Net Summer Capacity by Energy Source and State, 2007
Figure Title		Formats
		PDF		HTML
1.	The Role of Renewable Energy Consumption in the Nation’s Energy Supply, 2007

Source: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels. Data For: 2007. Report Released: May 2008. Next Release Date: May 2009. Click here to visit the EIA page related to the above information.

"Cheap renewable energy is not only critical for the environment but also vital for economic development in many places where there is limited affordable energy of any kind" ~ Sergey Brin, Google Co-founder and President of Technology.

Photovoltaic (PV) vs. Thermal solar: 

Photovoltaics (PV) is the field of technology and research related to the application of solar cells for energy by converting sunlight directly into electricity. Due to the growing need for solar energy, the manufacture of solar cells and photovoltaic arrays has expanded dramatically in recent years. Photovoltaic production has been doubling every two years, increasing by an average of 48 percent each year since 2002, making it the world’s fastest-growing energy technology. At the end of 2007, according to preliminary data, cumulative global production was 12,400 megawatts. Roughly 90% of this generating capacity consists of grid-tied electrical systems. Such installations may be ground-mounted (and sometimes integrated with farming and grazing) or built into the roof or walls of a building, known as Building Integrated Photovoltaic or BIPV for short.Financial incentives, such as preferential feed-in tariffs for solar-generated electricity and net metering, have supported solar PV installations in many countries including Germany, Japan, and the United States.

Source: Wikipedia page on photovoltaic (PV).

Thermal solar or solar thermal energy (or STE) is a technology for harnessing solar energy for heat. Solar thermal collectors are characterized by the US Energy Information Agency as low, medium, or high temperature collectors. Low temperature collectors are flat plates generally used to heat swimming pools. Medium-temperature collectors are also usually flat plates but are used for creating hot water for residential and commercial use. High temperature collectors concentrate sunlight using mirrors or lenses and are generally used for electric power production. This is different from solar photovoltaics, which convert solar energy directly into electricity.

Source: Wikipedia page on solar thermal energy.

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