Sunny Side
Salinas leads list of local solar cities.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Salinas leads in the number of solar roofs in Monterey County, with 79 grid-tied photovoltaic installations, according to Environment California's Solar Cities report.
Close behind—and with a tiny fraction of Salinas' population—is Carmel-by-the-Sea, with 73 installations. Carmel's population is about 4,100 to Salinas' 151,100, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, giving Carmel a huge lead in the number of solar roofs per capita (36 times Salinas' rate).
Monterey (pop. 29,700) ranks just behind Carmel, with 72 solar installations. Pacific Grove (pop. 15,500) places fourth in the county, with 19 systems, followed by Seaside (pop. 31,700), with 15. Marina (pop. 25,100) has eight systems, Soledad (pop. 11,300) has two, and Del Rey Oaks (pop. 1,700) has one.
Sand City (pop. 300)—the tiny post-industrial city full of flat warehouse roofs—finishes dead last, with zero solar systems.
Monterey County lags in comparison to the rest of the state. Its top solar city, Salinas, ranks 117th among California cities in terms of the number of solar roofs.
The top ten solar cities in the state are San Diego (with 2,262 systems), Los Angeles (1,388), San Francisco (1,350), San Jose (1,333), Fresno (1,028), Bakersfield (751), Cloveis (733), Santa Rosa (725), Sacramento (692) and Berkeley (648).
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