By Charlotte Cox

The first quarter of 2013 was the wind industry's worst first quarter since 2006, with the industry installing only 384 MW over the period compared to 1,912 MW a year ago, according to SNL data.

The weak quarter comes in the wake of a huge surge of installations in 2012, which saw 13,329 MW installed ahead of the scheduled expiration of the production tax credit. The fourth quarter of 2012 alone saw 8,054 MW of capacity brought online, more than twice the amount in any prior quarter. The fourth quarter of each year since 2000 has been the industry's strongest, particularly in years when the production tax credit was scheduled to expire.

That trend may continue, but fourth-quarter booms are likely to be reduced by latest version of the production tax credit passed by Congress early this year. That revised policy extends the PTC through 2013, but requires only that projects begin construction or meet a safe harbor clause by the deadline instead of begin commercial operations, putting less pressure on projects to all come online at the same time.

Given that safe harbor provision and the time required to build a wind project, turbine manufacturers expect only limited installations this year followed by an increase in new capacity in 2014 as projects are able to begin operations.

The solar industry, meanwhile, had its best first quarter ever for utility-scale solar generation. The 297 MW completed during the quarter more than doubled the 123 MW completed in the first quarter of 2012. Along with wind, solar capacity peaked in the fourth quarter of 2012, with 841 MW installed, more than twice the amount in any prior quarter. Solar projects are subject to different federal incentives, including the investment tax credit, which steps down from 30% to 10% at the end of 2016.

In the first quarter of 2013, renewable capacity made up 77% of the total completed capacity and 53% of the total announced capacity. Wind powered the most completed renewable capacity, but solar shone through to top the announced renewable capacity.

Almost 73% of the renewable capacity completed in the first quarter was in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, which covers most of the western U.S., including California — a hotbed of renewable activity. The rest of the completed renewable capacity is spread out across the remaining regions. For the announced renewable capacity, while WECC dominated with almost 52%, a single wind unit pushed the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. into second with 165 MW. Another single wind unit put Hawaii in third with 120 MW.

Wind accounted for 50% of completed renewable capacity, followed by solar at 39% and biomass at 10%. Of the 384 MW of wind capacity completed in the first quarter, 300 MW is from two units, the Pinyon Pines Wind I and II, which officially entered service Jan. 1. Recently acquired by MidAmerican Wind from renewable developer Terra-Gen Power LLC, the plants sell power to Southern California Edison Co. for their entire capacities under a PPA that extends through 2035. MidAmerican Wind is a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., which Warren Buffett referred to as one of his "powerhouse five" in his March 2013 letter to shareholders.

The third-largest renewable unit completed in the first quarter was a 100-MW unit at the Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One, owned by Exelon Corp. subsidiary Exelon Power. An additional 130-MW phase at the plant is under construction and expected online in December. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has a 25-year PPA for the plant's capacity. The fourth unit on the list is also solar — the 66-MW unit at Alpine Solar, which is owned by NRG Solar LLC. Pacific Gas and Electric also has a 20-year PPA for the plant's entire capacity. Developer First Solar Inc. sold Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One to Exelon in September 2011, and provided engineering, procurement and construction service for Alpine Solar.

Apple Inc. owns the 20-MW unit at its Apple Maiden iCloud Data Center plant, ranked ninth on the list. Apple is now powering all of its existing data centers, as well as its Cupertino Infinite Loop headquarters, entirely on renewable power. On April 19, Google Inc. announced that it will expand its North Carolina data center and participate in a plan with Duke Energy Corp. to buy renewable power under a new renewable energy rate plan the utility is creating.

Solar powered the largest share of announced renewable capacity in the first quarter of 2013 by a slim margin, with 49%. The largest announced renewable unit was the 300-MW Maricopa Solar Park, owned by Marisol Energy 2, an Italian company. The plant is in Maricopa County, Ariz.

Wind gave solar a run for its money, coming in a very tight second with almost 47% of announced renewable capacity. The second-largest renewable unit announced during the quarter was the 80-turbine, 165-MW Cameron Wind Project. Cameron is owned by Apex Wind Energy, a developer with 2,155 MW of wind capacity in development. The 40-turbine, 120-MW Auwahi Wind unit was the third largest renewable unit announced. It will join the eight-turbine, 24-MW unit that began operating in December 2012 at the plant, owned by BP Wind Energy North America Inc. and Sempra U.S. Gas & Power.

Prolific North Carolina-based solar developer Strata Solar announced the 7-MW Carthage Farm, ranked ninth on the list and projected to come online in June 2014. Strata currently owns 59 plants, all of which are in North Carolina, making Strata the company with the most planned solar capacity in the state. Carthage will add to the company's 88.3 MW of operating solar capacity and 223 MW of planned solar capacity, 33 MW of which is under construction.

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