California, feds extend solar program
California and the federal government will extend a program to expedite review and processing of proposed solar projects.
California Gov. Jerry Brown and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the expansion of an existing federal-state partnership that has, over the past two years, paved the way for more than a dozen utility-scale solar energy projects and more than 130 renewable power projects in California.
Launched in 2009, the agreement works to expedite review and processing of proposed projects. Friday’s agreement aims to further advance the state’s goals for renewable energy and create additional clean-energy jobs.
The governor and secretary signed the agreement in Elk Grove at one of Recurrent Energy’s four Sacramento-area solar projects. Together, the projects are expected to generate 160 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in one year, or the equivalent of the electricity consumption of 12,000 American homes.
Recurrent Energy’s Sacramento-area projects generated more than 220 jobs during construction, according to the governor’s office.
If all utility-scale projects in the pipeline in California were built today, the state would have enough renewable power to meet the state’s 2020 goal of 33 percent.
“As part of today’s agreement, which will expand our partnership on renewable energy, Interior and California will identify needed transmission projects to track, troubleshoot and shepherd,” Salazar said in a news release.
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