Green Options

The head of BP Solar International says his firm will install 100 megawatts of utility-level solar power projects on U.S. soil in 2009.

Reyad Fezzani told Dow Jones in an interview published Monday that his company, a subsidiary of energy giant BP PLC, is seeing high demand, and strong financing interest from investors. BP expects to manufacture 320 MW of solar panels in 2009, roughly double the amount it made in 2008. That will be split about 60/40 between large commericial and utility installations and residential sales, Fezzani said. That equates to about 192 MW of large scale installations, with 100 MW of that in the U.S., he said.

Cleantech IPOs have ground to a halt, and industry insiders at the Clean-Tech Investor Summit this week said they expect the no-exit environment to continue.

Mohr Davidow Ventures partner Will Coleman, who moderated a cleantech-financing panel at the event, asked panelists to guess when the IPOs would come back. “The second quarter, which doesn’t mean the markets [will have] reopened,” said Gary Vollen, managing director of the Stanford Group Co. “I think the third quarter, probably,” guessed Jeff Lipton, managing director of Jeffries & Co. Inc.

On Tuesday a ceremonial switch was thrown marking the start of a new one megawatt solar power installation at Gap Inc.’s west coast distribution facility in Fresno California

Suniva, an Atlanta-based startup, has recently developed solar cells that can achieve 20 percent efficiency. Unlike other high-efficiency cells, Suniva is using low-cost processes that will make their solar cells cost-competitive with conventional sources of electricity.

The Florida Public Service Commission has “unanimously and enthusiastically” approved a plan to build America’s largest commercial solar-power plant in the state. The committee also gave the green light to a further two facilities, due to go on-line in 2009.