California Breaks Solar Record, Generates Enough Electricity for 6 Million Homes

The San Francisco Chronicle calculated that California’s solar power plants on Tuesday generated enough electricity for more than 6 million homes.

On July 12, several large solar plants in the Golden State briefly produced a record 8,030 megawatts of electricity, according to the California Independent System Operator (ISO), the organization that runs most of the state’s power grid.

That is nearly twice the amount of solar energy produced two years ago — and that is only counting the electricity produced at plants. Thousands of rooftop solar panels around the state have the capacity to produce an additional 50 percent of that record amount.

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“There is just over 4,211 megawatts of rooftop solar in California,” Steven Greenly of California ISO told Good News Network. “I can tell you we had a great solar day.”

This solar production record demonstrates that the state is making significant strides toward meeting the state’s goal of reaching 33 percent renewables by 2020.

Solar and wind combined with other renewables, like wind, geothermal and hydro-electricity, provided nearly 29 percent of the electricity needs at Tuesday’s system peak, which occurred at 5:54 p.m. For short periods of time on two days in May, renewables were serving 54 percent and 56 percent of total electricity demand.

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