Large scale solar projects in California are racing to get on the board. In order to qualify for Federal stimulus money renewable energy projects must be approved by the appropriate regulatory bodies and meet other requirements by December 31, 2010. There is legislation in Congress to extend the Federal solar greeen energy stimulus money, but unless legislation involves making wall street more money, main street seems to take a back seat.
California is racing to becoming the solar energy generation hub of the country. A state ordered 2010 renewable energy supply deadline has led to explosive growth in solar farms. Utility companies are warming up and now recognise solar’s ability to deliver cheap, reliable and efficient electricity to customers in an article in Energy Matters.
California’s solar and renewable energy target will increase to 33 percent by 2020. Energy utilities in California are galvanised into action and are racing to get ahead in the renewable energy game, with solar farms becoming increasingly common. For many, it’s a case of go solar, or go under.
So it’s no surprise that at the beginning of December, just 12 months after construction began in January 2010, San Diego’s Sempra Solar Generation Company announced it had completed what it says is the largest solar PV generation power station in the US, rivalling the top five behemoth arrays in continental Europe.
The 48 megawatt (MW) Copper Mountain solar facility used 775,000 thin film solar panels to power 14,000 homes in Boulder City, about kilometres south-east of Las Vegas. 350 workers were employed to complete the vast solar facility within the 12-month deadline, an unprecedented achievement, according the Sempra vice-president William R. Engelbrecht,
“This is a solar massive solar project and they did an outstanding job of meeting our aggressive goal to build the entire project by the end of the year.” The solar companies have made good on its promise to complete work and begin generating emissions-free energy by 2010.
“Completing Copper Mountain Solar demonstrates that large-scale solar can be developed at a rapid pace to help this country meet its clean energy needs,” said Jeffrey W. Martin, president and CEO of Sempra Generation. “We have a focused plan aimed at developing more than 1,000 MW of solar projects in California and the west that will provide solid returns well into the future.” We should print Go Solar California and put it on a million t-shirts around the state to keep solar and renewable energy on the front burner.