California is no stranger to solar panels. Los Angeles, the largest city in the Golden State, is helping to lead the way in solar power system adoption.
The rising popularity of solar panel installation in Los Angeles is fitting, given various factors including government incentives, favorable climate and the global effort to reduce carbon emissions, and the city’s influence in growing the solar industry in general also holds significant value.
How Los Angeles Helped Pioneer Solar Power Implementation in California
The Los Angeles area has played a historic role in solar power commercialization. Dating all the way back to 1979, the world’s largest photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing facility was constructed in Camarillo, California, just north of L.A. in Ventura County.
Additionally, the city played a further role popularizing solar in California when the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power worked with the Department of Energy, Southern California Edison, and the California Energy Commission to design the Solar One program that was the first to test a large-scale thermal solar tower power plant in 1981. Supplementing the overall spread of solar energy in California, the state’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company created the first-ever, grid-supported photovoltaic system, considered the first “distributed power” PV installation.
With all these foundations for solar energy technology in place, it was just a matter of time before the city’s residents could really start to benefit from this alternative form of electricity.
Adoption of Solar Panels in Los Angeles
Even though its setting would imply otherwise, solar panel installation in Los Angeles wasn’t necessarily the most popular in most recent decades.
In 2012, L.A. didn’t make the U.S. Department of Energy’s top 25 “Solar America Cities,” while both San Diego and San Francisco did. The reasons behind this could be attributed to high-cost solar power previously held and the city’s larger use of the cheapest form of energy produced from coal.
With more recent and significant dips in the cost of solar energy – along with the rising electricity rates – a positive shift toward installing solar energy has taken up momentum. The need for cleaner air in the well-known pollution-filled city of L.A. has further helped to drive the switch to solar energy.
In September 2010, an executive order signed by the city’s Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and approved by the California Air Resources Board, required the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to produce at least one-third of its energy by 2020. To do this, the city partnered with UCLA to study the feasibility of an incentive program for promoting distributed solar energy usage.
Pro-solar, statewide initiatives were also a major supplement to these city-driven mandates—the main one being the California Solar Initiative (CSI) as well as the overall Go Solar California campaign. The CSI program works to benefit customers of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E).
Overall Shift Toward Sustainable Energy
Outside California and the U.S., an overall shift toward adopting sustainable energy is happening around the world.
In 2015, nearly every country in the world participated in the first global pact, the Paris Climate Agreement, that was aimed toward reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. With this accord, each country would make a conscious effort to set goals toward decreasing their carbon footprint in order to slow down the possible negative impact on the earth’s atmosphere.
Organizations and businesses around the world have also caught on to this trend of innovating their operations and products to be environmentally friendly.
Tesla, for example, is a company that prides itself on creating technologies that work to accelerate the universal transition to sustainable energy. It has invented multiple products like electric cars that run on clean energy and is currently in the process of producing a stationary battery for powering the home.
SpaceX’s Hyperloop One reinvention of transportation using alternative electricity sources and technology is currently being tested and the concept could come to fruition in the very near future.
Another trend toward sustainability lies in waste-to-energy conversion. To address a growing crisis in waste management around the world, cities and governments are finding ways to turn trash to “gas”—to reduce waste and emit fewer emissions.
These alternative solutions for energy are addressing the world’s issues and are helping to keep momentum toward making sustainable energy sources the norm. Meanwhile, the increasing need to stay connected and share information is helping to fuel the trend to “go green” and helps consumers to understand the negative impacts certain types of energy sources could have on the earth.
With Los Angeles being one of the major cities within the United States, it can be looked at as a leader in sustainable practices, starting with greater adoption of solar panels in Los Angeles.
Why Solar Power Installation in Los Angeles Will Continue Rising
Los Angeles upholds a reputation of holding forward-thinking ideals, with its people being on the pulse of the latest trends, technologies, and news.
With increased energy costs, government-mandated initiatives, and incentives to go solar in place there is a general shift toward sustainable energy throughout the country. And this perfect storm has created this rising popularity of solar panels in Los Angeles.
If you are looking to contribute to the positive momentum and be a hero in your own right, give us a call for solar panel installation in Los Angeles.
Semper Solaris is the most trusted solar power company in Los Angeles County, with unmatched expertise in solar power. We’ll get you on your way to saving not only money via lower electricity bills but also to drastically reduce your negative environmental impact via the switch to solar.
