Solar energy may prove competitive

WASHINGTON, OCT 5: Large-Scale investments by oil companies in alternative sources of energy have begun to yield success, the Wall Street ...

WASHINGTON, OCT 5: Large-Scale investments by oil companies in alternative sources of energy have begun to yield success, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

BP Amoco (British Petroleum), the world’s largest maker of solar panels, now produces panels for far less than what it did 20 years ago — $7.50 a watt installed today compared with 80 dollars a watt installed in 1980.

Technology has allowed its solar-energy unit to develop thin film panels rather than the more widely-produced silicon-chip panels. This year BP Solar would invest nearly $10 million on thin film, the Journal said.

“We can frost it, we can colour it, and at a cost of $600 per square metre, it is cheaper than polished stone,” BP Solar President and Chief Executive Harry Shimp said.

BP Amoco and other oil companies are pursuing alternative energy at a pace unmatched since the energy crisis of the 1970s, according to the Journal.

Austin, Texas, for instance, sells natural gas and environment-friendly electricity in three states.

BP Amoco, said the Journal, plans to expand its wholly-owned BP Solar subsidiary into a billion dollar business by 2007 from $200 million today.

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Other companies active in renewable energy include RoyalDutch/Shell Group with an investment of $500 million in renewable energy sources, including biomass, solar and wind power.

US companies, according to the Journal, are lagging. Among them, Texaco Inc is the most agressive.