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Solar Electric
A Million Solar Roofs
The U.S. Department of Energy launched the Million Solar Roofs Initiative in 1997. When the federal program ended in 2005, California continued with its own California Solar Initiative (CSI). Through rebates and research grants, the CSI has supported nearly 500,000 solar projects. Its goal is to generate enough electricity to power about a million homes by 2018.
The system displayed here -- comprising a photovoltaic panel, a power inverter, and a meter panel -- is typical of that used in the CSI. At night and on cloudy days, a home drew power from the electric grid. But on sunny days excess power from the solar panel fed the grid. This turned the building into both a consumer and a producer of electricity. |