LA Solar Farm Will Power 85,000 Homes

Once maligned as one of America’s smoggiest cities, Los Angeles has cleaned up its act in a big way - and none too soon; for while a thick layer of smog may offer up beautiful sunsets, it tends to limit the amount of vital solar energy the city will need to reach its renewable energy target of 35 percent by 2020.

To that end, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has announced it will team up with solar panel manufacturing company SolarWorld to build a 11.6 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic power station that, when operational, will generate enough clean, renewable solar energy to power 85,850 homes and avoid 290,000 metric tons of CO2 over 25 years. SolarWorld USA will supply the 46,322 high-performance crystalline silicon solar panels used in the high desert Adelanto facility and the American-made inverters that will convert the station's 11.6 MW DC current into the 10 MW AC power necessary for domestic household use.

Source: Renewable Energy News