By
Sammy Roth; Photograph by Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times
For a long time, there were two big
knocks against solar power: It’s expensive, and it can’t keep the lights on
after sundown.
A contract approved Tuesday by the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power shows how much that reality has
changed.
Under the 25-year deal with developer
8minute Solar Energy, the city would buy electricity from a sprawling complex
of solar panels and lithium-ion batteries in the Mojave Desert of eastern Kern
County, about two hours north of Los Angeles. The Eland project would meet 6%
to 7% of L.A.’s annual electricity needs and would be capable of pumping clean
energy into the grid for four hours each night.
The combined solar power and energy
storage is priced at 3.3 cents per kilowatt-hour — a record low for this type
of contract, city officials and independent experts say, and cheaper than
electricity from natural gas.
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