Solar Power Projects Could Power 300K Homes

3/27/2008 - Associated Press


LOS ANGELES -- Two major solar energy projects are being proposed for Southern California that could generate enough electricity to serve 300,000 homes.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Southern California Edison are expected to announce Thursday the largest rooftop solar installation project ever proposed by a utility in the United States. It will place solar cells on 65-million square feet of rooftops of commercial buildings throughout Southern California.

An Edison spokesman said work would begin immediately on the project. He said it would take five years to finish and cost $875 million.

On Wednesday, Florida-based FPL Energy proposed building and operating a solar plant in the Mojave Desert.

The 500 megawatts produced by the combined projects would increase the state's solar power flowing to the electricity grid by more than 50 percent.

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