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Solar Power Inc., a Roseville, Calif.-based solar panel manufacturer and installer, won $24.7 million in stimulus funding to build a new manufacturing facility in Sacramento County. The award comes through the county’s Recovery Zone Facility Bonds, which in turn come from Recovery Act funds doled out to California and distributed among counties and cities throughout the state. Currently, Solar Power builds its panels in China and installs them here in the U.S.

The plant will top 10 megawatts of production and create 60 permanent jobs when it opens, which Solar Power says will come by the end of the year. That employee roster will increase to 100 in the future, said Executive Vice President Jeff Pontius to the Sacramento Business Journal. In addition, roughly 100 temporary jobs will be created during the construction process.

Solar Power is currently seeking out potential sites in Sacramento County for the manufacturing facility, which will also house the company’s new headquarters, and expects to announce said location within 30 days. Solar Power also plans to erect a $50-million, 10-megawatt utility-scale solar photovoltaic system in the county. That site has already been chosen but the company has not revealed its location. Solar Power Inc. employs 63 people at its current Roseville headquarters.

Sacramento County’s allotment of Recovery Zone funding, of which Solar Power Inc. received the full amount, was culled from a total $15 billion that the Obama administration allocated nationwide. Solar Power’s new plant is the latest in a slowly increasing number of manufacturing facilities being built in the States as part of federal incentives aimed at bringing permanent, high-quality green jobs to the U.S.

Photo Credit: world construction equipment

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Artesia, Calif.—McClellan Power & Energy (MP&E), a division of McClellan Products, Inc. A privately held corporation that designs, builds and manages solar and wind farms, sells commercial and residential wind and solar solutions, today announces the purchase of a 63 Acre site in San Diego County.

The commercial operation of the largest solar project in California has started with the help of partnership between First Solar Inc. and NRG Energy Inc.. Moreover, New York is also all set to undertake its largest solar project.

The 21-megawatt (MW) power plant in Blythe, Calif., was built by First Solar, and was acquired by NRG last month, through its subsidiary NRG Solar.

According to First Solar, the electricity generated by the solar facility will be sold to Southern California Edison (SCE), under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

The Blythe plant is said to be the largest project in the United States, using thin-film PV and is also five times the size of the next largest PV project in California.

According to NRG, the Blythe plant will be able to generate more than 45,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year, and will be able to supply power to 17,000 homes, reducing almost 12,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually.

However, due to some water issues, especially in California, regulators are trying to get solar operators to use dry cooling which uses almost 90% less water, although it might be costly and have lesser efficiency.

Other states, such as New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and Delaware are also following California in the solar field.

Recently, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has approved 20-year power purchase agreements for the biggest solar energy project in New York.

Developed and built by BP Solar International Inc. and enXco Development Corp. (enXco), the $423 million solar project will generate 50 MW of electricity for LIPA’s electric grid, supplying power to 6,500. It is expected that the project will be fully operational by mid-2011.

The carbon dioxide emissions will also be reduced by more than 45,300 tons per year as a result of the project.

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The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) held three marathon hearings this week, featuring more than 50 witnesses discussing the revised draft of the climate legislation introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and EPW Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).