Oct 16 2008

California Goes Solar!

PG&E's leadership in customer solar, recognized today by an award at the Solar Power International conference and described in Katie Romans' accompanying post, reflects in part the remarkable leadership the state of California has shown in this sector. 

The California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) reported a few days ago that more solar panels were installed in the first nine months of 2008 under the auspices of the California Solar Initiative than in any previous full year.

PG&E and the state's other two investor-owned utilities together hosted new installations of grid-connected solar photovoltaic capacity totalling 111 megawatts in the first three quarters of this year, up 37 percent over the total for all of 2007.

The California Solar Inititiative is slated to provide more than $2 billion in utility-sponsored rebates for customer solar installations over 10 years.

Thanks in part to programs like this, California housed 69 percent of all grid-connected photovoltaic capacity in the United States last year, according to a recent report by the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. California's total worked out to 9.1 watts per person, compared to 7.8 watts per person in Nevada.

The CPUC's report notes that customer demand for solar installations appears to be accelerating, based on the record-breaking number of new applications received in the third quarter (more than 3,000). However, a story in GreenTechMedia reports that some customers are opting to wait until next year to install systems, in order to cash in on higher tax incentives. Even so, the strong growth trend is likely to continue.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall | Comments (0) digg delicioussend to a friendprint entry

 

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Renewable Energy , Solar

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  • This is being rather generous to Lutz. 1. The "Volt", in no small part, will be targeted as a product to people who care about energy and environmental issues. These people don't embrace Lutz' antideluvian concepts of rejecting science. How responsible is it for a GM executive to be rejecting the science? 2. As well, Lutz didn't exactly sound too enthusiastic about the Volt itself. 3. And, GM public communications has 'defended' Lutz in rather absurd ways. -A Siegel
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  • This article is right on - small businesses have a huge role to play in sustainability. Not only do they add up in aggregate, but many small businesses operate in industries that can have a significant environmental impact depending on the exact practices, like dry cleaners, auto repair shops, etc. Green is also starting to affect the bottom line more and more, customers are increasingly voting with their feet for more sustainable businesses as can be seen from the growth of sites like http://www.ecovian.com. This is also a huge opportunity for small businesses to leapfrog their bigger brothers by being more agile in adopting these measures. -Emily
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  • Great entry, Katie. Love the level of detail you managed to get in there! Probably won't be able to compete with coal and oil any time the next decade, but definitely a great technology to look into! Keep it up :) -Rune (Norway)
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