California installed enough solar systems last year to generate
as much electricity as a nuclear reactor, largely due to a state
law that orders utilities to use more renewable power. It’s an
idea that many people — including, as it turns out, U.S.
Interior Sec. Ken Salazar — would love to take nationwide. It
certainly gets results. But it’s important to remember that such
mandates have costs, as a trio of new reports illustrates. The
California Public Utilities Commission released three reports
Thursday examining the successes and costs of the state’s
“renewable portfolio standard,” which requires utilities to get
one third of their electricity from renewable sources by the end
of 2020. We’re making progress. In 2012, the state’s three big
utilities derived 19.8 percent of their electricity from the
sun, the wind, and other renewables. With a clutch of big solar
power plants soon to start operations, that percentage will
quickly rise. But the renewable standard, usually known by the
acronym RPS, also created