More Solar in SoCal

A big new solar plant was approved by the California PUC this week, though not of the solar thermal kind. To be built down near Blythe, this will be acres and acres of solar panels — the largest installation in the state when it’s finished.

Solar Gets Hot

[Another, similar, is going up in Florida, slightly larger at 25 MW, than the California plant.]

They need to hurry it up though. There are only about 136 megawatts of solar in California now, roughly enough for 136,000 homes. This new one will add 21 MW more. There are something like 5.6 million households in California and while not every household is necessarily a home, the gap is still enormous. Solar and wind together only contribute about 2% of current energy needs.

The articles today that the federal tax credits deemed necessary for faster renewables development are in jeopardy of not being renewed show once again how little focused on our energy problems the Congress is.