Fresno’s solar capacity was estimated at 343 watts per person. Only Honolulu, Hawaii, at more than 606 watts, ranked higher in the U.S. in the per capita estimates.
BY TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE for Techwire
Fresno has been lauded as the U.S. city with the second-highest solar power generating capacity per person, second only to Honolulu, Hawaii.
In this spring’s Shining Cities 2018 report, the Environment California Research & Policy Center highlighted major U.S. cities that have significant development of photovoltaic solar panels to generate electricity for homes and businesses and are connected to the statewide power grid.
While Fresno — which ranks fifth in population, 527,483, among California cities — was not among the 68 cities studied in detail by Los Angeles-based Environment California, the city did receive special mention for being among “smaller cities and towns (that) are going big on solar energy.”
Fresno’s total solar power generating capacity was reported at about 179 megawatts. That’s fourth among California’s big cities, behind Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose, and ahead of Sacramento, San Francisco and Riverside. But when that total capacity is divided by the city’s population, Fresno generates more watts of solar power for every man, woman and child in the community than not only any California city in the Shining Cities report, but more than any of the other major cities in the continental U.S. included in the report.
Fresno’s solar capacity was estimated at 343 watts per person. Only Honolulu, Hawaii, at more than 606 watts, ranked higher in the U.S. in the per capita estimates.
