Governor energizes solar-panel effort

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."