NorCal Solar Energy Report Findings

The NorCal Solar Energy Association has released its 2008 report summarizing solar installations in Northern California. This unique report gives some concise, quantitative insight into solar energy growth in the region and California as a whole. The report’s main focus is on the San Francisco Bay Area because it consistently leads the solar energy movement in California.

Just some of the data the report divulges:

• From 1998 to 2007, Californians installed over 244 MW ($2.1 billion worth) of solar power by way of 30,466 PV installations.
• In the Bay Area specifically, there are 11,563 solar projects completed as of the end of the calendar year 2007. That amounts to at least 84 MW of electricity.
• In 2007, California added 70 MW of solar electricity, 24 of which came out of the Bay Area: That is just over 34 percent.

Most of this progress came before the implementation of the California Solar Initiative (effective January 1, 2007). The California Solar Initiative (CSI) is a ten-year $3.2 billion incentive program that aims to install 3,000 MW of solar power. For several years already the California solar industry has been growing by 30-40 percent annually; thanks to the CSI that percentage is expected to increase for 2008 and beyond.

NorCal Solar’s report is unique among states and organizations nationwide. Out of curiosity I checked into similar reports from other states. I could find none as specific and informative as this one. Several state departments or agencies give annual reports on renewable energy, but most deal more in generalities, funding and goals rather than hard production numbers.

Just to highlight one: New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program 2007 Annual Report, while not specific to solar, was straightforward in a way similar to NorCal Solar’s and did provide quantitative results.

It does make sense that California — the Bay Area (NorCal) particularly — would have reason to be proud of its achievements. The state is responsible for 60 percent of U.S. solar installations all by itself. I imagine that as the solar industry really picks up steam elsewhere, those states will find plenty of reason to brag.

Posted on December 15th in Solar Information by Dan.