L.A. Plan Complements Statewide Solar Efforts

California needs clean solar energy to replace dirty and expensive power plants, strengthen the electrical grid, reduce the need for unsightly transmission lines and give consumers a choice on how they generate a portion of their electricity.

The proposal to generate 1% of L.A.’s electricity with solar photovoltaic power is an excellent start (“Hahn Seeks More Use of Solar Power,” March 19).

L.A.’s effort also complements Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s statewide “Million Solar Roofs Initiative” (“A Ray of Hope,” editorial, March 24), to make solar electricity available to consumers. Solar energy competes with the retail cost of power. In fact, distributed or “rooftop” solar energy already is competitive with the true cost of peak power when its benefits are properly quantified.

Jan McFarland

Vice president and

California director

Americans for Solar Power

Sacramento