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Solar photovoltaic companies aren’t posting profits this quarter, but utility-scale solar ventures produced income for their parent corporations, according to third quarter earnings reviews. The most salient earnings posts from the third quarter 2011 from unregulated companies doing business in California include the following: AES--With proposals for California desert solar projects and a wind project, AES reported net income for the third quarter 2011 of $175 million. Last year at this time it posted $397 million. In February, it agreed to buy the 700 MW Imperial Valley solar thermal project from Tessera Solar, formerly Stirling Energy Systems. San Diego Gas & Electric retained the power purchase agreement for the facility. It is to feed its power to the San Diego area over SDG&E’s $1.9 billion Sunrise Powerlink transmission project, which is being constructed. In March, AES acquired the 49 MW Mountain View IV wind project in Palm Springs. That power is to be sent to Southern California Edison under a 20-year contract. According to the company, its wind projects in California have a total capacity of 200 MW. The company also owns the Alamitos, Huntington Beach, and Redondo Beach fossil-fueled power plants. Calpine--After posting mostly steady losses--a total of negative $176 million for the first three quarters of the year--this California-based company recorded net income of $190 million for the third quarter 2011. Last year at this time Calpine reported $217 million in income. Calpine started construction to upgrade its Los Esteros plant from a 188 MW simple-cycle to a 308 MW combined-cycle facility this summer. The power is under contract with Pacific Gas & Electric. Expanding the Geysers geothermal plant is proving viable, according to the company. It continues to pursue permitting, Constellation--Its quarterly earnings had not been released by press time. The company owns biomass and solar generation in California. It sold its Mammoth geothermal facility to Ormat last year. Both Exelon and Constellation own nuclear power plants outside of California. Merger costs with Exelon were reported at $8 million in the quarter. Comverge--This demand-response aggregator that contracts with California utilities to curb peak usage reported revenues of $48.6 million this quarter. That is a 6 percent decrease from last year’s third quarter revenues of $51.7 million. The company claims it has 3,778 (n)MW under its control nationwide. Dynegy--The company cut several of its divisions adrift in bankruptcy reorganization this month. Dynegy Corp. is not set to reveal its profits or losses until Nov. 14. The company has been flirting with takeovers and bankruptcy for over a year. Dynegy owns the 1,000 MW Morro Bay plant, the 2,529 MW Moss Landing facility, the 165 MW plant at the Port of Oakland, and the 700 MW South Bay plant. EnerNOC--Holding demand-response contracts with California investor-owned utilities, this aggregator posted $46.9 million in earnings. Last year at this time EnerNOC had $43.9 million in income. The demand-response negawatts under EnerNOC’s control amount to 7,000 (n)MW. First Solar--This photovoltaic company posted $196 million in quarterly net income. Last year at this time, it reported $176 million in income. Its ambitious 230 MW AV Solar Ranch received a Los Angeles County permit in September, but the approval is under appeal. First Solar’s $1 billion 290 MW Agua Caliente plant in Arizona, under contract to PG&E, is expected to close financing early next year. It’s set to begin building before the end of the year. It sold its 550 MW Desert Sunlight development to NextEra and GE Financial Services on Sept. 30. GenOn--The result of a merger between Mirant and RRI in December 2010, the company reported $256 million in net gains for the quarter. Last year at this time, prior to the merger, it reported $415 million in income. NextEra Energy Resources--California’s primary wind developer reported profit of $67 million in the third quarter, down from $386 million in net income for the same quarter last year. NextEra, along with GE Financial Services, acquired the 550 MW Desert Sunlight development from First Solar Sept. 30. That project, near Blythe, has a partial $1.46 billion loan guarantee. It was approved by the Department of Interior in August. NRG Energy--A net loss of $55 million was reported for the quarter. Last year at this time, NRG reported a $223 million profit. The company attributed “increased sales capacity” from El Segundo and Encina power plants to its bottom line. On Aug. 5, it announced it completed acquisition of the 290 MW Agua Caliente plant from First Solar. The development has a $967 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. The energy from the Arizona plant is under a 25-year contract to PG&E. On Aug. 7, the 45 MW Avenal plant began output. Its power also goes to PG&E. It owns half of the 392 MW Ivanpah project. Ivanpah recently closed $1.6 billion in financing with the Department of Energy. It bought the 290 MW California Valley Solar Ranch development from SunPower Corp. Sept. 30. It received a loan guarantee of up to $1.2 billion from DOE in April. That plant is to break ground Nov. 10. Despite the three utility-scale solar plants in California, NRG chief executive officer David Crane said the company is positioning itself to take advantage of an expected increase in distributed solar installations. Ormat--This geothermal company posted a loss of $137 million for the quarter. Last year at this time, there was a $58 million profit. Ormat specializes in geothermal energy and owns the North Brawley plant in California. It’s based in Reno, Nevada. SunPower Corp.--Facing price pressure on photovoltaic panels, this San Jose-based photovoltaic company posted a loss of $370.8 million versus about an $8 million profit this time last year. The French company Total acquired a majority of Sunpower in June for $1.3 billion. Total is a fossil fuel company. Editor’s note: Current attempts to present financial information on an apples-to-apples level, but not all corporations report on the same basis.

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