The mayor's proposal aims to have solar power meet one-tenth of L.A.'s energy needs by 2020. But skeptics wonder if the plan will be cost-efficient and friendly to private enterprise.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled a long-range plan today for securing 1,280 megawatts of solar power, enough to meet one-tenth of the city's energy needs, by 2020.

Appearing at a manufacturing plant for solar panels in South Los Angeles, Villaraigosa said the initiative will help the Department of Water and Power wean itself off dirtier coal power, which makes up 44% of its energy supply and is seen as a contributor to global warming.

Villaraigosa said the plan would also give Los Angeles an economic boost, by making it a hub of the solar energy industry and putting it in line to tap federal funds.

"L.A. has everything it takes to make this work," he said. "We have the sun in abundancy. We have the space. We have the largest municipal utility in the country."

Villaraigosa has been trumpeting an array of renewable energy initiatives in recent weeks, using redevelopment funds to lure "clean" technology companies and investing city pension dollars in environmentally friendly companies.

Such proposals could help him not only as he runs for re-election, but in a 2010 campaign for governor -- one in which he would be likely to face Att. Gen. Jerry Brown, an avid environmentalist.

DWP General Manager H. David Nahai said his agency will spend the next 90 days developing a financial analysis of the solar plan, including its effect on ratepayers. Still, one DWP watchdog said the mayor's office should spend more time scrubbing the plan's financial assumptions, particularly the cost to consumers, before going public.

"There is one huge assumption here -- that they'll get these huge tax credits, volume discounts and economies of scale," said Jack Humphreville, a neighborhood council member who has been pressing the DWP to appoint a "ratepayer advocate." "I have serious questions about whether that is pie in the sky or not."

Under the mayor's solar plan, the largest share of solar power, or 500 megawatts, would come from generating facilities built by private sector companies in the Mojave Desert. Another 380 megawatts would be achieved through smaller programs, including one that would help low-income residents add solar panels to their homes and another that would allow DWP customers to purchase shares of city-owned solar plants.

Both proposals establish goals for 2020, seven years after Villaraigosa's second and final term as mayor, and must be approved by the five-member DWP commission.