Solar Power

The agreement by investor Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings to buy a $2-billion photovoltaic farm in San Luis Obispo County could bring a ray of financial sunshine to the battered solar-energy industry. The scale of Buffett's foray into this sector of the renewable energy scene is considerably more modest than his $34-billion purchase of BNSF Railway, but it could provide the same kind of boost to the solar power business that the 2009 acquisition did to the railroad industry, experts said.

That ray of light you see peeking through all the clouds darkening California's future? That's the sun. More specifically, solar power, in which California is the hands-down national leader. The state's installed solar generating capacity of about 1.2 gigawatts - the equivalent of two big conventional power plants and enough to fill the electrical demand from nearly 200,000 homes for a year - easily outstrips the next 10 highest-ranked states. It's also the fastest-growing solar market in the country.

Chevron Corp. on Monday will unveil a solar oil field project that has been hit by cost overruns and delays but serves as a showcase for the technology of Chevron-backed solar thermal company BrightSource Energy. Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, said Friday that three of its executives would attend the launch of the "demonstration project" in Coalinga, which is designed to use solar power to create steam to inject into wells to improve the flow of heavy oil. The 65-acre project consists of 7,600 mirrors focusing sunlight on a 327-foot tower.

Re "Solar standoff in the Mojave," Editorial, May 1 The Times is correct about the Genesis Solar Project when it writes, "Solar power is a vital part of the move to clean, renewable energy as well as greater independence from foreign oil. " Genesis will produce enough electricity for nearly 90,000 average homes and avoid putting more than 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. Sadly, the term "fast track," which once described a proactive, priority-driven approach to breaking bureaucratic gridlock, has now become unfairly associated with cutting corners and adverse environmental and cultural impacts.

California is on track to meet an ambitious goal of putting solar panels on up to 3 million Golden State homes by 2016, according to a new report by an environmental group. The $3.3-billion initiative, which provides subsidies to homeowners, has spurred the installation of 800 megawatts of rooftop panels over the last five years. That's the energy equivalent of two gas-burning power plants. With the prices of photovoltaic panels plummeting, California's installations are expected to triple over the next five years, helping the state reach its goal of 3,000 megawatts of rooftop solar by 2016.

In a move that could boost solar energy use in homes, Google Inc. is creating a $280-million fund to help finance rooftop installations. The Internet search giant, an avid investor in renewable energy technologies, said the deal with SolarCity, a solar panel installation company based in San Mateo, Calif., is the largest green investment it has ever made. "Google's leading the way and other companies could follow suit," said Lyndon Rive, chief executive of SolarCity. "It's not just about a dramatic environmental impact, it's also a good return.

Reporting from Blythe, Calif. -- One of California's showcase solar energy projects, under construction in the desert east of Los Angeles, is being threatened by a deadly outbreak of distemper among kit foxes and the discovery of a prehistoric human settlement on the work site. The $1-billion Genesis Solar Energy Project has been expedited by state and federal regulatory agencies that are eager to demonstrate that the nation can build solar plants quickly to ease dependence on fossil fuels and curb global warming.

Storm clouds hovered over the San Fernando Valley, but businessman Jack Engel was smiling as he pointed to a row of solar inverters at one of two commercial warehouses he owns in Sun Valley. Power was being generated despite the weather, no problem. His problem, he said, has been the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. "I like the idea of solar, but unfortunately my experience is that the DWP doesn't support it," said Engel, who has run a small manufacturing firm on Pendleton Street for four decades.

Construction cranes rise like storks 40 stories above the Mojave Desert. In their midst, the "power tower" emerges, wrapped in scaffolding and looking like a multistage rocket. Clustered nearby are hangar-sized assembly buildings, looming berms of sand and a chain mail of fencing that will enclose more than 3,500 acres of public land. Moorings for 173,500 mirrors -- each the size of a garage door -- are spiked into the desert floor. Before the end of the year, they will become six square miles of gleaming reflectors, sweeping from Interstate 15 to the Clark Mountains along California's eastern border.

Abundant sunshine has made Southern California one of the brightest markets for residential solar power in the country. Some might say too bright. Encouraged by federal tax credits and a municipal rebate, so many Los Angeles residents sought to add rooftop solar panels at the start of the year that the Department of Water and Power had to suspend its Solar Incentive Program in April because of overwhelming demand and funding concerns. But on Thursday — at 10 a.m., to be precise — the DWP will relaunch the program, albeit with reduced rebates and a new online system to process applications.

Developers in the Mojave Desert last month were so keen on going forward with their project that they didn't consult with Native Americans about the ancient objects that might lie underground or conduct the required archaeological work in a thorough way. This has happened before: It happened most recently in downtown Los Angeles last year at the site of one of the area's oldest burial grounds. Now it's happening again 200 miles east, in the desert. But there's a key difference between the two. In the case of La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, the new cultural center honoring Mexican and Mexican American history in L.A., there was little legitimate reason to rush the job once remains from a 19th century cemetery were discovered.

When he was running for mayor seven years ago, Antonio Villaraigosa promised to make L.A. the greenest big city in America. Yet when it comes to local solar-power development, it's not even the greenest city in Los Angeles County. Rooftop solar panels make a lot of sense for L.A., not only because the city is so frequently sun-splashed but because local power development is the easiest and cheapest way to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, since one doesn't need to build power lines to carry electricity here from desert solar plants or mountain wind farms.

Storm clouds hovered over the San Fernando Valley, but businessman Jack Engel was smiling as he pointed to a row of solar inverters at one of two commercial warehouses he owns in Sun Valley. Power was being generated despite the weather, no problem. His problem, he said, has been the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. "I like the idea of solar, but unfortunately my experience is that the DWP doesn't support it," said Engel, who has run a small manufacturing firm on Pendleton Street for four decades.

The price of power Re "Activists feeling burned," April 6 Southern California has many large, empty rooftops that could easily support a sea of solar panels. Exploitation of this vast resource, which is already connected to the grid, should be a top regional priority. Unfortunately, the decision-makers at our utilities prefer to stick with an outmoded business model that relies on corporate point-source energy production, in which solar power plants are substituted for coal-fired ones.

Tortoise power Re " The solar desert: An uneasy coexistence ," March 4 I was utterly amazed, though not surprised, by the attempts to "save" the desert tortoise at such a tremendous expense of dollars, personnel, programs, sacrifices and concessions. There is a severe shortage of renewable clean energy on this planet. There are millions of children who go to bed hungry each day. There are millions of humans who do not have access to clean drinking water. But by all means let's have a private company spend in excess of $56 million to provide food, housing, medical care and security for the desert tortoise.

Stubborn does not come close to describing the desert tortoise, a species that did its evolving more than 220 million years ago and has since remained resolutely prehistoric. Its slowpoke take on biological adaptation has exposed modern vulnerabilities. The persnickety reptile is today beset by respiratory infections and prone to disease. Its only defenses are the shell on its back and the scent of its unspeakably foul urine. FOR THE RECORD: The subheadline on an earlier online version of this article erred in describing the desert tortoises as "endangered creatures.

It is far from the "million solar roofs" that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger touted, but the number of rooftop solar installations in California has grown from an estimated 500 a decade ago to nearly 50,000 today. And in the last three years, the Golden State's solar market has more than doubled.

La Jolla Bishop's 66, Oak Park 41--Lindsay Killus made 10 of 12 shots and finished with 24 points, and Brianna Winn added 17 to lead the Bishop's (24-6) in the Division IV victory at the Forum. Oak Park (25-6) made only three of 20 three-point shots.

Reporting from Blythe, Calif. -- One of California's showcase solar energy projects, under construction in the desert east of Los Angeles, is being threatened by a deadly outbreak of distemper among kit foxes and the discovery of a prehistoric human settlement on the work site. The $1-billion Genesis Solar Energy Project has been expedited by state and federal regulatory agencies that are eager to demonstrate that the nation can build solar plants quickly to ease dependence on fossil fuels and curb global warming.

Power vs. the desert Re "The power compromise," Feb. 5 If people want renewable energy, they should understand it must come from somewhere. In this case, the desert ecosystem is the somewhere. Although the Ivanpah Valley solar site and similar projects represent a devastating loss to this environment, if we continue to depend on fossil fuels, there will be devastation just as bad elsewhere in the world. It seems that we Southern Californians are unable to deal with the devastation being so close to home.