Californian Utility to Blanket Rooftops with Nation's Largest Solar Collector Cell Installation
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles 
on 03.29.08
Image courtesy of Pink Dispatcher via flickr
Two square miles of Californian rooftops will be blanketed with the country's largest solar installation - a collector cell array that could power the equivalent of about 162,000 homes by 2010 - if Southern California Edison's $875 million bid is approved by state regulators. Governor Schwarzenegger has already endorsed the project, praising it for its potential to "set off a huge wave of renewable energy growth," reports Reuters.
The first sites, on buildings in the Riverside and San Bernardino counties, could be operational as early as August - not a moment too soon for the region's always beleaguered peak load capacity. Company officials estimate that the rooftop photovoltaic arrays will be able to generate close to 250 MW of electricity.
When combined with Florida-based FPL Group's recently announced 250 MW solar thermal plant, which will be built in the Mojave Desert, Southern California Edison's project will help boost the amount of solar energy-derived electricity by more than 50%.
Via ::Reuters: Solar farms to rise on California rooftops (news website)
See also: ::California Developers Making Solar Roofing A Standard Item, ::Largest Solar Farm Ever to be Built in California, ::A Picture is Worth... Solar Power in California
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