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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Deal Will Make Solar Cells More Affordable

New York Times

A California electric utility has signed a big contract to buy solar cells that the utility and the Department of Energy say will push the cells’ cost down to a competitive level by 2002.

The utility, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, will buy 10 megawatts of solar cells by 2002, enough to supply hundreds of houses. The total is small by the standards of conventional power plants, but experts say it is the largest purchase ever by a utility of solar cells, which make electricity from sunlight. The type that the utility district will buy, thin-film silicon, is similar to what pocket calculators run on.

Outside experts say that it is difficult to predict future costs but that the contract is likely to help push prices down substantially.

The utility will put 300 square feet to 500 square feet of cells on the roofs of about 4,000 customers who volunteer, and these will produce about 3 kilowatts of power, said Donald E. Osborn, who is in charge of solar power for the utility district.

About 700 customers already have such installations and pay $4 a month extra as “PV Pioneers.” Since June 1989, when voters decided to shut their nuclear plant, Rancho Seco, the utility has tried to cut demand, paying customers to buy more efficient refrigerators and planting trees that shade houses and cut air-conditioning costs. It has also installed solar cells, some at the nuclear plant.