SunPower To Build New Colorado Solar Power Plant

Financial terms of the lease agreement with SunPower were not disclosed.

Last week, First Solar Inc. completed its purchase of unfinished photovoltaic projects from OptiSolar and said it would issue 3 million shares, or dilution of about 3.5 percent for current shares, to finance the deal. Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar agreed to pay about $400 million in stock for the assets.

In February, San Francisco-based Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it will develop a series of photovoltaic projects in its northern and central California service areas to generate up to 500 megawatts of electricity, about 1.3 percent of its overall demand.

The series of announcements indicate utilities are becoming more active as renewable energy mandates begin to take effect, Janco Partners analyst Vijay Singh said.

"I think utilities, in general, have become a bright spot in the renewable energy space," he said. "That's where most of the hope is."

However, he noted that financing is still tight, excess supply remains and demand is sluggish.

Shares of SunPower fell $1.49, or 6.1 percent, to $23.13 and shares of Minneapolis-based Xcel added 3 cents to $18.04 in afternoon trading.