General Electric is selling solar panels to its wind turbine power developers, reports Christopher Martin at Bloomberg News. The company argues that installing solar panels alongside wind turbines creates a more continuous source of clean energy, since solar operates by day, and winds are stronger at night. And by installing both technologies together, development costs for both are cheaper. This double advantage of increased efficiency and power continuity is an attractive argument to utilities and electric co-ops. Meanwhile, the cost of solar power continues to plummet, and offering solar panels may offset an anticipated decline in turbine sales, said Vic Abate, in charge of GE renewables unit. “Plugging [solar panels] into wind farm locations, you already know the community, how to get the permits and secure interconnections to the grid,” he added. U.S. developers have curtailed orders for 2013 worried that a federal tax credit for wind energy will expire at the end of 2012. The ability to offer solar equipment as wind incentives expire, AND expanding turbine sales outside the U.S., may help GE weather a domestic downturn.
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