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A construction project has launched and the project’s developers are calling it the world’s largest solar project because it’s taking place on more than 3200 acres across the Kern – Los Angeles County line. This is west of the town of Rosamond and the Antelope Valley. The projects are known as Antelope Valley Solar I and II, and they are being built for Warren Buffett’s Phoenix-based energy development business known as MidAmerican Solar.

Let’s not confuse this project with the nearby First Solar development Antelope Valley Solar Ranch, which had very serious dust control violations on the site and the project was halted by officials from Los Angeles County. Even though the local population probably has more of a dislike for the First Solar development, Antelope Valley Solar I and II are receiving their fair share of criticism. Residents are unhappy because the development is industrializing a section of the Antelope Valley that was formerly rural. Even though this part of the Mohave Desert was less valuable as a habitat, it still is the home for burrowing owls and other species of a sensitive nature that are part of the Mohave Desert wildlife.

When the project is completed, and hopefully by the expected time of 2015, both of the photovoltaic panels combined from each project will be able to put out a maximum of 579 MW of power sent to the utility company Southern California Edison. Also, MidAmerican Solar believes that the project is going to create 650 temporary jobs. It also says that they will pump $500 million into the Antelope Valley economy.

SunPower is building this project for MidAmerican Solar, and they plan to incorporate single axis tracking mounts so they could properly aim the photovoltaic panels in a more direct line of sight with the sun, and this should increase the output of the plant by the claimed 25%.

“The Antelope Valley Solar Projects are already creating needed jobs and economic opportunity in local communities, while at the same time, providing direct, long-term environmental benefits,” Paul Caudill tells us in a press release. He is the president of MidAmerican Solar.

MidAmerican Renewables is the parent company of MidAmerican Solar, and they are a subsidiary of the main company known as MidAmerican Energy Holdings, based out of Des Moines, Iowa. And last but not least, the total head company is Berkshire Hathaway, which is owned by Warren Buffett. At the time of this writing, MidAmerican Solar currently owns the 550 MW Topaz solar project taking place in San Luis Obispo County. They bought Antelope Valley Solar I and II in January.

MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, plans to scale back its capital spending targets for the immediate future.

According to a fixed income conference in New York, we learned that the company has projected that their expenditures are going to be less than $2.4 billion than previously planned throughout the year 2021. This is in part due to declining or flat demand from its unit PacifiCorp.

In an effort to slow down their electricity use, many homes and businesses have turned toward energy-efficient appliances and products. Efficiency gains have actually begun to put added pressure on the US utility companies. Companies such as Akron, Ohio based FirstEnergy Corp. and Xcel Energy Inc., based in Minneapolis, even though we are coming out of our biggest economic decline since the Great Depression.

“A large amount of utility growth is predicated on people using increasing amounts of electricity,” said Paul Patterson, member of Glenrock Associates LLC, New York-based analyst. We learn this information in a phone interview. “If that doesn’t materialize, then the need for some of these projects becomes questionable.”

Rocky Mountain Power, a subsidiary of PacifiCorp that currently serves customers in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, has projected that they will experience 0.6% less in demand this year. This is especially due to the improvements in energy efficiency. Unfortunately, the energy efficiency measures will remove any gains that the company can expect from brand-new residential and commercial customers. Plus, the industrial clients sales are expected to drop as other clients begin to generate power on their own.

No Way to Recover 

Pacific power, utility companies at sells electricity in Northern California, Oregon and Washington is mentioned that there will be “no recovery” in demand for power down 2013. This comes after five years weather normalized declines.

Both of PacifiCorp’s units have made a projections stating that over the next 10 years they expect their capital spending to decline by 13% from what was previously expected, according to the slides. Pacific Power and Rocky Mountain will cut their costs and boost their efficiency as the demand decreases, plus they will revise their construction and design standards, we found out the presentation.

“Our plans are based on consumer needs,” states Tina Potthoff, a MidAmerican Energy spokeswoman based out of Des Moines, Iowa. She mentioned that the company does not speak for Warren Buffett, who is also the CEO and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett did not answer a message when asked to comment.

The use of electricity in the United States is expect to rise by 0.4% during 2013, we learn from Energy Department data. But consumers are going to continue to buy light bulbs that burned twice a percent fewer watts. They will also continue to install technology that reduces the energy output from appliances during the hot summer months. This will put less of a strain on the power grid and require less energy.

Electricity Sales 

“flat to declining electricity sales volumes will force many utilities to re-examine their business models, and transition from simply delivering volumes of electricity,” said Sam Brothwell. He is a senior utilities analyst with Bloomberg industries, and he wrote that comment in a research note published on April 1.

The 82-year-old Warren Buffett has mentioned in the past how Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and MidAmerican Energy have provided a very appealing way for Berkshire Hathaway to spend its enormous profits. Both companies can generate nice returns and they require large amounts of capital.

Of the $9.8 billion in capital expenditures in 2012, both of these businesses were the biggest drivers of this expense. Berkshire Hathaway will most likely spend more this year, according to Warren Buffett’s letter to shareholders which he released on March 1 of last month.

“We will keep our foot on the floor and will almost certainly set still another record for capital expenditures in 2013. Opportunities abound in America,” he wrote.

Warren Buffett recently made a very large investment in renewables over the holidays, and Google also announced a $200 million equity investment in a wind farm in West Texas this past Wednesday.

“In late December, while most of us were busy wrapping presents, our treasury team was tying a bow on our most recent renewable energy deal: an approximately $200 million equity investment in a wind farm in West Texas that generates enough energy to power more than 60,000 average US homes,” said Google in a blog post.

The location of the project is an Oldham County, and it’s known as the Spinning Spur Wind Project. This is a section of the Texas Panhandle that’s completely wide open and very windy. It’s roughly 35 miles from the city of Amarillo. The facility for this project was originally built by EDF Renewable Energy. On the site, there are 72.3 MW Siemens turbines that are now working full-time as of the end of last year. This project primarily helps New Mexico and Texas.

This past December, Warren Buffett made an even bigger investment in renewables.

He paid between $2 billion to $2.5 billion for the 579 MW Antelope Valley Solar Power Projects from SunPower Corp. through MidAmerican Solar. This is the biggest photovoltaic project throughout the world.

A blog named Go Green Solar tells us that Warren Buffett’s project is going to be huge.

“To give you an idea of how massive this project is, a solar panel used in residential applications might be around 230 Watts. That would mean more than 2.5 million 230 Watt solar panels,” the blog tells us.

Warren Buffett is also beginning to invest money into wind. MidAmerican Wind recently completed an installation of the 300 MW Pinyon Pines I and II California project. This consists of 100 3MW turbines provided by Vestas, a Danish manufacturer.

The total renewable assets of MidAmerican Energy Holdings, such as biofuels, wind and solar, can generate up to 1830 MW of electricity.

Many developers were spurred by renewable tax credits, which recently expired on December 31 of last year. Because of this credit, wind had its biggest year ever.

In 2010 alone, Google has made 10 renewable energy investments.