Clean energy in California: solar, wind and geothermal

When it comes to renewable energy in the United States, people often mention two states, California and Texas. While Texas is the undisputed king of wind energy, California is not only the queen of solar energy, but also the queen of geothermal energy. California is also adding new wind power capacity, and judging by the looks of it today, California may already be starting to look to the future of clean energy.

California currently has more than 500 MW of solar power capacity and more than 2,500 MW of geothermal power capacity. Both numbers are likely to improve significantly in the coming years due to many new renewable energy projects that are in the final stages of approval, or whose construction is about to begin.

There’s plenty of sunshine in California year-round, and California has certainly taken full advantage of this by currently having about two-thirds of the total US solar power capacity, with much more to come in the next decade.

California also has many favorable areas to harness geothermal energy, such as around famous geysers as well as in south central California, and geothermal power capacity is also likely to see significant growth in the coming years.

Many people don’t connect California with wind power, and very few people are aware of the fact that California is the third largest wind power producing state in the country, with more than 2,700 MW of wind power generated in the first quarter of 2010.

As you can see, when it comes to clean energy, things are looking really good for California.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *