California Solar Initiative

Solar power in California has been growing rapidly because of high insolation, community support, declining solar costs, and a Renewable Portfolio Standard which requires that 33% of California's electricity come from renewable resources by 2020, and 50% by 2030. Much of this is expected to come from solar power.

In 2016, California reported a total of 19,783 GWh in solar electricity generation, approximately 9.97% of all electricity produced. This represented 35.8% of the state's non-hydro renewable energy generation.

At the end of 2016, California had a total installed solar capacity of 18,919.8 MW, making it the highest solar power generating state in the nation. In April, 2017, this capacity generated 5,045 thousand MWh, or 13.78% of the total electricity generated that month SEIA currently estimates that California's solar capacity powers 4,885,000 homes in the state, and employs 100,050. It is estimated that the state will add an additional 13,670 MW of capacity over the next five years, 2017-2021.

On May 13, 2017, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) reported that the state had broken a new renewable energy record, with non-hydro renewables providing 67.2% of the total electricity on the ISO's grid, with another 13.5% being provided by hydro. The ISO reported that solar was providing approximately 17.2% of the total electricity.

Over the last 20 years, California has been home to a number of "world's largest" solar facilities. In 1991, the 354 MW solar thermal Solar Energy Generating Systems plant (located in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California) held the title until being bested by the 392 MW Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, a concentrated solar thermal plant located in San Bernardino County near the Nevada border.

In 2014, the 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm became the new "world's largest operational" solar facility went online in San Luis Obispo County, California. A second 550 MW facility by First Solar, Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, also went online in Riverside County in 2014. Both these were superseded, however, by the Solar Star photovoltaic project that went online with 579 MW in June 2015 in Antelope Valley, California (located in Los Angeles and Kern counties). While California hosted the three largest photovoltaic facilities in the world (as of July 2015), there are yet several proposals for even larger facilities seeking regulatory approval in California, such as the 2.7 GW Westlands Solar Park.

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Wikipedia