First Solar, a maker of thin-film solar cells, has signed an agreement with Southern California Edison to sell the utility 550 megawatts of electricity produced by two massive photovoltaic solar farms in the Mojave Desert.

The plants, expected to go online by 2015 and produce enough electricity to power 170,000 homes, would be built on federal land set aside for such solar projects.

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That was to be read to the tune of “Speed Racer.”  If this makes no sense….check out the video below.

Consolidation is happening fast – and those with cash…. win.

Following their big announcement last week of breaking the $1/watt barrier, this morning First Solar announced that it has bought up OptiSolar’s deal pipeline for a cool $400M.  While this is truly huge news, that OptiSolar was going to sell its projects should not come as too big a shocker given OptiSolar’s slashed its headcount by 50% and decided not move ahead with it’s central valley production facility.

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Yesterday, First Solar announced it had reduced its manufacturing cost for solar modules in the fourth quarter to 98 cents per watt – that is big news because the company won the race to produce under the $1 per watt price barrier.  This news didn’t come as a surprise to many, and perhaps we can get Brad to write a note about the true significance of the announcement.

Other big news was PG&E’s proposal for 500 MW of solar PV – half of which PG&E would develop on its own.  This is worth noting because traditionally Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) in California, like PG&E, have had to rely on Independent Power Producers (IPPs) since the deregulation of the State’s energy market in the 1990’s. 

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