Utilities working to bring down cost of solar power

Panels on homes, schools, even in botanical garden

From Correspondent Jim Hill

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Solar power has long been considered an ideal new energy source, particularly in sunny states such as California. But the problem has always been that generating electricity with the sun costs more than using oil or natural gas.

Experts say that the more solar power is used, the less it will cost, turning it from a theoretical option to a true alternative. So some utility companies in California are experimenting with creative ways to make solar power less expensive by making its use more widespread.

In Sacramento, 250 homeowners have been recruited by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District to allow installation of panels of photo-voltaic cells -- called PV cells for short -- on the roofs of their homes.

The panels make the houses mini power plants which actually put electricity back into the power grid.

"This program has been very successful," says utility district spokesman Donald Osborn. "We have seen not only tremendous levels of participation by the customers -- it's one of the most popular programs we have -- but also we've seen the cost of PV systems dramatically fall."

PV cells use chemical reaction to make power

PV cells use a chemical reaction to generate power in much the same way a plant uses the sun's energy to make food through photosynthesis. Generating power this way is clean and, except for a slight hum, quiet.

In San Marino, a quiet neighborhood south of Pasadena, the fruits of solar experimentation have been visible in a concrete way.

Southern California Edison had planned to tear up streets and put in bigger electric transmission lines. Instead, it made a deal with nearby Huntington Library to put PV panels in its renowned botanical garden and send the non-polluting power back into the neighborhood.

"Trying out solar power just makes sense, from looking at the future and being a botanical garden," says Catherine Babcock of the Huntington Library.

The utility has also placed PV panels on the roof of a school in South Pasadena.

"The key is to get the costs down to where you can be environmentally conscious and do all those things that you want to do and still be competitive financially," says Stephen McKenery of Southern California Edison. "And that's what we're trying to do with programs like this."

Related story:

• Solar-powered house makes light of utility bills - April 28, 1996

Related sites:

• Photovoltaics - National Renewable Energy Lab
• Solar Energy in California - CA. Energy Commission
• Photovoltaics - Sustainable Energy and Development

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