{"id":16480,"date":"2011-11-10T08:16:08","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T16:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=16480"},"modified":"2011-11-10T08:16:08","modified_gmt":"2011-11-10T16:16:08","slug":"california-hits-solar-energy-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/11\/10\/california-hits-solar-energy-milestone\/","title":{"rendered":"California Hits Solar Energy Milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Homeowners and businesses have now installed one gigawatt of roof-top solar panels, according to a report<\/a> released this week by the advocacy group Environment California<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A gigawatt<\/a> \u2013 or a thousand megawatts – is enough energy for about 600,000 homes. Only five nations — let alone states — including Germany and Japan, have reached that level. “Even in a bad economy, the solar industry has been growing exponentially by 40 percent per year,” says Michelle Kinman of Environment California.<\/p>\n

The goal comes five years after California\u2019s Million Solar Roofs Initiative<\/a> began, which mandates three gigawatts of rooftop solar by 2016.<\/p>\n

The report credits the rapidly falling prices of solar panels for the growth, as well as the California Solar Initiative<\/a>, a $2 billion solar rebate program. In 2007, the program provided a rebate of up to $2.50 per watt. As demand has grown, the program is designed to reduce the incentive. Today, it\u2019s between 25-65 cents per watt.<\/p>\n

“The real goal of the program is to create a sustainable solar industry in California that will continue to thrive without continued ratepayer incentives,” Scott Murtishaw of the Public Utilities Commission. “And I think that we’re achieving that. The installed cost of solar has fallen by roughly a quarter since the program began.”<\/p>\n

The report says California is on track to meet the three-gigawatt goal in 2016. Adam Browning of Vote Solar<\/a> says the state’s net metering<\/a> cap could get in the way. Solar customers sign up for net metering contracts with their utility, so they’re credited for the electricity they generate. Right now, California utilities are only required to sign contracts for up to 5%<\/a> of their overall load.
\n\u201cThere are clouds on the horizon and we\u2019re going to have to lift the cap again,” says Browning.<\/p>\n

Still, he says it’s a good story. \u201cWe\u2019ve hit that transformation point with solar. It\u2019s like cell phones. They\u2019re nowhere until they\u2019re everywhere. Once they hit a sweet spot, you see an explosion and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s happening now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only five countries, including Germany and Japan, have reached the one-gigawatt milestone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[148,189,452,479,530,531],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-16480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-business","category-power","tag-cpuc","tag-electricity","tag-pv","tag-rooftop-solar","tag-solar","tag-solar-energy"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia Hits Solar Energy Milestone | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/11\/10\/california-hits-solar-energy-milestone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California Hits Solar Energy Milestone | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Only five countries, including Germany and Japan, have reached the one-gigawatt milestone.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/11\/10\/california-hits-solar-energy-milestone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-10T16:16:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2011\/11\/Solar-Reservoir1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren Sommer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lauren Sommer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/11\/10\/california-hits-solar-energy-milestone\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/11\/10\/california-hits-solar-energy-milestone\/\",\"name\":\"California Hits Solar Energy Milestone | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-10T16:16:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-10T16:16:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/2028303b891a88d762725b47b4b689ed\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/11\/10\/california-hits-solar-energy-milestone\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/11\/10\/california-hits-solar-energy-milestone\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/11\/10\/california-hits-solar-energy-milestone\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"California Hits Solar Energy Milestone\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/2028303b891a88d762725b47b4b689ed\",\"name\":\"Lauren Sommer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/fb47fb7f6f643a79f68702c434e94f49\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33aa3772bb86c6ad45b8aca6a238bbdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33aa3772bb86c6ad45b8aca6a238bbdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lauren Sommer\"},\"description\":\"Lauren is a radio reporter formerly covering environment, water, and energy for KQED Science. As part of her day job, she has scaled Sierra Nevada peaks, run from charging elephant seals, and desperately tried to get her sea legs - all in pursuit of good radio. Her work has appeared on Marketplace, Living on Earth, Science Friday and NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. 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