Sunpower Corp, one of a growing number of multi-billion dollar market cap solar companies, has just in the last week closed two deals to build a couple of megawatt class solar tracking power stations. The first is a megawatt class system for Agilent Technologies Inc. The system is expected to generate an estimated 1.8 million kilowatt-hours per year. For a solar system, that's actually a very high annual output of power. My spreadsheet tells me that on average throughout the year this system will be producing 205 kilowatts of power, which corresponds to a load factor of 20.5% - excellent. That compares to about 10% for a solar pv system in West Germany.

The second system is very original 2 megawatts of solar trackers on a Korean Landfill site. Contrary to popular belief, landfill doesn't take up that much space compared to the volumes that are tipped into it, but it is lost land to conventional development. So the use of solar panels over this otherwise useless space is intriguing.

Anyway, from a technological standpoint, solar tracking makes a great deal of sense. The sun does not conveniently shine at you from one angle throughout the day. It moves from East to West. So why not move the angle of the panels as the day progresses to take that into account?

Tracking can deliver up to 25 percent more energy than traditional fixed-tilt systems while reducing land-use requirements. That's what solar tracking is all about and of the big solar companies, Sunpower Corp has a clear niche in this technology.

I'd much like to know though what the installed cost per watt of this technology is . . . I suspect it's pretty expensive.