California is first state with 5% of its electricity from solar

[jpak]

http://fortune.com/2015/03/24/california-solar-energy/

California’s big push into clean energy is seeing results as the state became the first with at least 5% of its overall electricity coming from large-scale solar projects last year.

That’s according to a new study from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which said Tuesday that the Golden State more than doubled the percentage of its overall electricity production that comes from utility-scale solar power. (Utility-scale solar plants are those that generate greater than 1 megawatt.) California’s solar output grew from 1.9% of the state’s total electricity in 2013 to 5% last year as the state generated a record 9.9 million megawatthours (MWh) in 2014 — up from 3.8 million MWh a year earlier.

California was followed by Arizona and Nevada, both of which generated 2.8% of their total electricity from big solar plants. Of course, abundant sunshine helped those states. But even northeastern states like Massachusetts and New Jersey cracked the top ten list, according to the EIA.

New Jersey came in fourth with 1% of its electricity from solar plants. North Carolina, where Duke Energy recently committed $500 million to build three solar farms, placed fifth with a solar output of 0.7%. However, the EIA also found that a total of 36 states had no meaningful solar output last year.

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[HockeyMom]

1. Why not the Sunshine State?

REPUBLICAN controlled. For over 20 years of owning a home in New York, I saw more Solar Panels on homes there than in Florida.

[jpak]

2. Solar is down by law in FL

There is a petition for a FL constitutional amendment out there now to change that....

[Optical.Catalyst]

3. Solar panels periodically have the opportunity to become missile hazards