Sacramento region tops in per-capita solar capacity
Leaders behind a movement to strengthen the Sacramento region’s clean-energy technology industry are celebrating a power boost this week.
Additional solar systems in Sacramento County, with a capacity of 20.2 megawatts, that had not been accounted for were added to a national database this week.
That put the six-county region’s solar capacity ahead of the seven-county Bay Area in per-capita installed photovoltaic capacity.
And by establishing Sacramento as a leader in solar technology, it could help attract solar manufacturers, installers and users to the region.
Ryan Sharp, executive director of the Center for Strategic Economic Research, said the National Renewable Energy Laboratory database is important because analysts use the data to look at market acceptance of solar technology, or at specific projects in an area.
"It allows analysts to look at not only what’s going on in one region, but allows for comparisons across the country," he said.
"If researchers are looking at this database, Sacramento should put its best foot forward so analysts get a true market picture of the accurate acceptance of photovoltaic technology."
That’s just what economic development leaders recently worked to do.
Now, after an update to the database was submitted by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the region’s installed solar kilowatt capacity per 10,000 population jumped from 127 to 217, surpassing the Bay Area’s 196.
While the National Renewable Energy Laboratory database does not calculate solar installations on a per-capita basis, local researchers are using NREL data to do so.
"Our analysts and outside analysts use it as well," NREL spokesman Joe Verrengia said of the photovoltaic database. "It’s one of the few national repositories of photovoltaic information that is as close to up-to-the-minute as possible."
NREL geographers developed Open PV, a free software tool, so people in the rapidly expanding solar sector could keep abreast of the latest installations, capacities and costs.
Read the full story in the Sacramento Business Journal.
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