So. Cal Edison plans huge solar project

ROSEMEAD, Calif., March 27 (UPI) -- Southern California sunshine will supply electricity for 162,000 homes by 2012, a power company plan announced Thursday predicted.

Southern California Edison said it would install 65 million square feet of solar panels on roofs in the Los Angeles area, taking five years to complete the task.

It would generate 250 megawatts of power, the company said.

The project, using "two square miles of unused commercial rooftops," said Chief Executive Officer John E. Bryson, is designed to help meet peak electric needs on hot summer days and help reach the state's mandate of producing 20 percent of its power from renewable resources by 2010.

The installations will cost $877 million, the company said.

The company will start rooftop installations in August, "installing at a rate of one megawatt a week."

"These are the kinds of big ideas we need to meet California's long-term energy and climate control goals," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International