In mid December, Alison first posted about the grid parity achieved by First Solar (FSLR) at the El Dorado Energy Solar facility.  Since that time, FSLR has rocketed another 20% off the November lows and looks poised to test the next level of resistance around 180 within the next couple weeks.  The LA Times is out this morning with more on the analysis from Mark Bachman of Pacific Crest Securities, who in mid December said “We now have an alternative-energy source that can actually deliver cost-competitive electricity with no subsidies.”

Obviously this is a major milestone for the solar energy industry and First Solar (FSLR) in particular which uses cadmium telluride for its proprietary thin film solar cells.  The CEO of Sempra Generation which built the solar farm in Nevada using FSLR modules added, “Our contract is the least expensive solar power ever delivered in the world at scale.”  The current solar farm at El Dorado is small at 10MW, but Sempra plans to install an additional 50MW of FSLR panels and is in the planning stages of a big 500MW solar farm to be built next to its Mesquite Power Generating Station in Phoenix.

According to the article, the big opportunities will continue to be in California which mandates that investor owned utilities generate 20% of their electricity from renewable sources within the next year and 33% by 2020.

I think FSLR CEO, sums it up best.. “The photovoltaic industry is much closer to generating affordable solar power than most people realize.”  Think solar is dead?  Think again.