Less than three months ago Ezra Green, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Clear Skies Solar, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal, stating that a California project was stalled due to a lack of funding.

Since that time, module prices have fallen as much as 30 percent, reigniting stalled projects such as Clear Skies' Cantil solar farm. Decreasing upfront capital costs and a higher revenue stream now offer investors a higher return than ever before.

"Although this project will be smaller than initially anticipated, the use of thin film technology will offer our investors a substantially higher return, which investors are now demanding under current economic conditions," said Ezra Green, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Clear Skies Solar.

"I anticipate that competing technologies and increased manufacturing capacity brought on by massive investments at manufacturing factories will continue to reduce the cost of module prices. Plus, as the Renewable Energy Credit and Carbon Credit markets continue to develop under President Obama's administration, I expect to see the value proposition of these kinds of projects continue to grow in 2009."

The improvement of thin film technologies and subsequent decrease in thin film costs are major contributing factors to the economic feasibility of this project. With a larger footprint than traditional PV panels, the use of thin film typically consumes twice as much land as polysilicon on a per watt basis.

Clear Skies Solar will continue to operate and maintain this solar plant for the next 20 years and expects to see recurring revenue from this management arrangement. The completed Biological Resource Assessment has found no evidence of protected desert wildlife, which is the main environmental issue that has the potential to hinder a project such as this.

What makes this Cantil property truly unique is its proximity to the utility substation. Although there are many undeveloped desert areas in California that initially look ideally suited for a solar farm, there are few locations close enough to a utility substation to make the economics of a solar farm project feasible.

"Since this area of the Mojave Desert offers extremely high solar radiation, is not prone to pollution, has minimal rain and has a steady wind factor to keep the panels cooler, we are expecting the output to be 10 percent higher than estimated on the industry irradiation tracking websites," added Green.

"This, coupled with our proven low installation costs and declining module prices, makes the Cantil, CA project an attractive investment for the multiple financiers that have approached us to become involved with this project."

Clear Skies Solar is currently entertaining offers from several panel manufacturers who have approached the company to partner on this project, and plans to announce its chosen partner in the coming weeks; ground breaking is expected in the third quarter of 2009.

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