After South Australia’s largest water and sewerage service supplier announced in January that it was planning to invest more than $300 million in solar and energy storage in 2020, perhaps SA Water could’ve checked its ambitions when the Covid-19 pandemic reared its elongated neck. However, SA Water is proving that it can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same.
Electricity generated by renewable sources like solar, wind and hydro has exceeded coal-fired power in the United States for a record 40 straight days, according to a report based on U.S. government data released on Monday.
Real-time pricing of electricity can help integrate renewables, reduce costly and polluting peak-period generation, and save customers money, the trade groups say. They call for California to make real-time pricing an option in the San Diego area.
Jon Reiter banked the four-seat Cessna aircraft hard to the right, angling to get a better look at the solar panels glinting in the afternoon sun far below. The silvery panels looked like an interloper amid a patchwork landscape of lush almond groves, barren brown dirt and saltbush scrub, framed by the blue-green strip of the California Aqueduct bringing water from the north. Reiter, a renewable energy developer and farmer, built these solar panels and is working to add a lot more to the San Joaquin Valley landscape.
Home to more than 100,000 solar installations, San Diego is one of the nation’s leaders when it comes to renewable energy. But according to a just-released report, there are many more locations where the sun’s energy can be harnessed. A nonprofit based in Northern California released a “solar siting survey” that identified 500-megawatts of locations with potential for large-scale solar deployments within the city limits of San Diego and pinpointed more than 120 prospective locations that could be home to projects of a minimum of 1-megawatt.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
