Community solar gets a tryout with major Calif. utility

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20030345-54.html

Southern California Edison announced yesterday it has added seven new community solar plants to its energy repertoire that together generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 8,125 households.

SCE now has a total of 10 community-size solar stations, a network of small neighborhood solar stations, which consist of mainly rooftop solar installations on local buildings, connecting to its grid.

Four community solar stations in Ontario, Calif., for example, consist of 32,950 photovoltaic panels installed on the rooftops of warehouses owned by ProLogis. SCE leased what amounts to about 1.8 million square feet of roof space from the company. Together the solar plants generate about 5.5 million watts of electricity.

SCE's announcement illustrates one movement in the U.S. toward using integrated community-size energy plants distributing electricity locally, as opposed to large plants that sometimes necessitate long-distance transmission to get the electricity to consumers.

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