California expands solar energy farm

SACRAMENTO, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Aerospace company Aerojet and Solar Power Inc. announced plans to add another 2.4 megawatts of power to its solar farm in Sacramento.

The entire Sacramento solar farm will become the largest single-site industrial facility when its 40-percent expansion is completed by 2010, Aerojet said.

The site will cover more than 40 acres in Sacramento and include 22 solar tracking arrays that follow the path of the sun across the sky in order to maximize electricity production.

Aerojet says the use of its tracking array in Sacramento offsets more than 6,000 tons of carbon dioxide, 23.8 tons of sulfur dioxide and roughly 9.3 tons of nitrogen oxide normally emitted from conventional energy facilities of equivalent size.

The solar farm contributes to goals outlined in an executive order signed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September that mandates Californians get 33 percent of their energy through renewable resources by 2020.