Once again, even during these trying times of money crunch and investment, California continues to be an ambassador of generating power using alternative energies. This time, the utility company Pacific Gas & Electric is planning to invest directly towards building and owning solar plants and panels over several communities. The company has already been working towards generating clean energy through other providers. However, they are now planning to spend $850 million over the next three years to build them directly.
While this move from the progressive utility company further cements California as the continuing leader in solar technology in the country, it serves as a role model to other states, especially those where there is a plethora of sunshine. Collaborative effort between companies, regardless of their size, could be a possible way to foster this growth in other states. In this way, not only the burden of capital investment could be shared, but also could result in tax incentives for all those partnering in this effort.
Doing so could bring the United States back to the top of the solar industry, which is now currently behind Germany, Spain, China and Japan (not necessarily in rank order) and also could help steer a green economy.
Nagarajan Sridhar
