New solar generation took up more than four-fifths of the slack in 2014 as a sustained drought depleted California’s hydroelectric reservoirs.
“Hydro production fell by 46% in 2014 as extreme drought conditions spread across the state,” Greentech Media reported last week. But U.S. Energy Information Administration figures showed that photovoltaics and concentrating solar power made up 83% of the difference.
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“In 2013, yearly electricity generation from solar trailed every renewable energy technology in California except small hydro,” Lacey writes. “But over the course of a year, solar generation more than doubled in the state, making it the second-biggest provider of renewable electricity in 2014 behind wind.”
