Los Angeles mayor pitches solar power plan
Villaraigosa, speaking at a solar panel manufacturing plant, said his plan would produce 1,280 megawatts of power — most from private generating plants in the Mojave Desert, but also from public facilities and smaller programs to encourage residents to install solar panels on their homes.
He touted the installation of 1,700 panels on the roof of the Staples Center this year as a step toward reducing consumption of fossil fuels.
"LA has everything it takes to make this work," Villaraigosa said. "We have the sun in abundancy. We have the space. We have the largest municipal utility in the country."
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power General Manager David Nahai said his agency will conduct a financial analysis of the plan and its effect on ratepayers over the next 90 days.
The mayor is also trying to use redevelopment funds to entice clean technology companies into the city and investing city pension money in environmentally responsible companies in a bid to make Los Angeles a player in the solar energy industry.
A DWP watchdog questioned the financial effects of the mayor's proposal.
"There is one huge assumption here — that they'll get these huge tax credits, volume discounts and economies of scale," said Jack Humphreville, a neighborhood council member who has been pressing the DWP to appoint a ratepayer advocate. "I have serious questions about whether that is pie-in-the-sky or not."
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Why Fort Frances wants to build an integrated microgrid to deliver its electricity
TORONTO - When the power goes out in Fort Frances, Ont., the community may be left in the dark for hours.
The hydro system's unreliability — caused by its location on the provincial power grid — has prompted the town to seek a creative solution: its own self-contained electricity grid with its own source of power, known as a microgrid.
Located more than 340 kilometres west of Thunder Bay, Ont., on the border of Minnesota, Fort Frances gets its power from a single supply point on Ontario's grid.
"Sometimes, it's inevitable that we have to have like a six- to eight-hour power outage…
