Governor energizes solar-panel effort
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill he hopes will result in the installation of solar electric panels on 1 million California homes over the next decade.
Senate Bill 1, by state Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Culver City, will expand the state's $3.2 billion solar subsidy program to include municipal as well as investor-owned utilities, with the goal of producing 3,000 megawatts of electricity from the sun.
Switching to solar power from traditional electricity production by that amount would represent the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road, Schwarzenegger said.
Murray said the bill helps move the state toward a semblance of energy independence.
"No one can game the sun," Murray said, in reference to allegations that large energy trading companies such as Enron manipulated the state's energy crisis earlier this decade for their own profit. "No trader can play games with the cost of your energy once you've got solar panels on them."
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WASHINGTON - Offshore wind in the U.S. will exceed 1 GW of capacity by 2024 and add more than 1 GW annually by 2027, according to a report released last week by Navigant Research.
The report calculated over 17 GW of offshore state and federal leases for wind production. However, the owners of those leases have only announced first phase plans for 1,870 MW of capacity, leaving much of the projects in early stages with significant room to grow, according to senior research analyst Jesse Broehl.
The Business Network for Offshore Wind (BNOW) believes it is possible to hit 1 GW by…
