2 big projects will amp up solar power in Southland (500 MW, California)

[jpak]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-solar27mar27,1,3440040.story

Solar energy is getting a big boost in Southern California with the unveiling of two projects that will be capable of generating a total of 500 megawatts of electricity, enough to serve more than 300,000 homes.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Southern California Edison plan to announce today the country's largest rooftop solar installation project ever proposed by a utility company. And on Wednesday, FPL Energy, the largest operator of solar power in the U.S., said it planned to build and operate a 250-megawatt solar plant in the Mojave Desert.

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Energy experts were struck by the size of the two projects, which would bolster the state's current total of about 965 megawatts of solar power flowing to the electricity grid.

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The Edison rooftop project will place photovoltaic cells on 65 million square feet of commercial building roofs in Southern California. The cells will generate as much as 250 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power about 162,500 average homes, based on the utility's estimate that one megawatt would serve about 650 average homes.

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[OKIsItJustMe]

1. FPL applies to build California solar plant

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/03/24/daily41.html

Thursday, March 27, 2008 - 2:34 PM EDT

FPL applies to build California solar plant

South Florida Business Journal

FPL Group said it has applied to California regulators to build and operate a 250-megawatt solar thermal plant in the Mojave Desert.

The project, called the Beacon Solar Energy Project, is to be located on a 2,000-acre site in Kern County and is to contain more than 500,000 parabolic mirrors. Work on the plant is expected to begin in late 2009 and will take two years to complete. Once complete, FPL said the project will have little air or water emissions.

The project is part of Juno Beach-based FPL Group (NYSE: FPL) subsidiary FPL Energy's goal of adding at least 600 megawatts of new solar power by 2015.

Shares are up 77 cents to $63.45 in afternoon trading. The 52-week high was $73.75 on Jan. 7. The 52-week low was $54.61 on July 11.