San Diego and other Southwestern regions may be ideal locations for solar panel placement

Recently, as a part of his “We Can’t Wait” initiative, President Obama announced that seven nationally and regionally significant solar and wind energy projects would be fast-tracked. Together, these projects would produce nearly 5,000 megawatts of energy – enough to power about 1.5 million homes, and support the President’s all-of-the-above strategy to expand American made energy reduce dependence on foreign oil. 

However, the United States has an enormous untapped source of energy that could be taken advantage of, but there’s a catch: it’s in the desert. The Southwest is an ideal location for solar panels San Diego, but these areas have few energy demands and sending solar power from these regions to population centers is complicated. The problem lies in the lack of transmission lines. This lack prevents states with ideal locations but with little populations from converting their ‘unused’ sunlight into real watts.

Transmission lines are key to developing these region's solar resources. The problem here is that is existing lines are reaching their maximum carrying potential, and building new lines can take years or even decades. According to a new Department of Energy study on transmission congestion, much of the nation's existing transmission system is aging and will need replacement before 2030.