California first state to get 5 percent of electricity from solar

[KamaAina]

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/CA-the-first-state-to-get-5-percent-of-6155813.php

California’s decadelong push to add solar power is showing some big results.

The federal government reported Tuesday that California has become the first state to get 5 percent of its electricity from large-scale solar power installations. In 2014, solar power plants in California generated 9.9 million megawatt hours of electricity, more than all other states combined.

And the report, from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, doesn’t even count the output of rooftop solar arrays on homes and many businesses. Only installations capable of generating at least 1 megawatt of electricity were included.

California law requires utilities to get 33 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. That law prompted a wave of solar power plant construction that peaked in the last two years, with massive plants coming online. Some of those facilities —such as Topaz and Desert Sunlight — use the same photovoltaic panels that homeowners slap on their roofs. Others — including the Ivanpah plant designed by Oakland’s BrightSource Energy and funded by Google — employ fields of mirrors to focus sunlight (although questions about the amount of electricity Ivanpah actually generates continue to dog the plant).

[Journeyman]

1. Can anyone recommend a solar installation company in Southern California?. . .

I've had two groups come out, and both tried to bamboozle us.

Would appreciate whatever recommendations people can provide.

[REPUguy]

3. You've got mail

[bananas]

2. Doesn't include rooftop solar on homes and business

And the report, from the U.S. Energy
Information Administration, doesn’t
even count the output of rooftop solar
arrays on homes and many businesses.
Only installations capable of generating
at least 1 megawatt of electricity were
included.