California Actually Met Its Goal Of One Million Solar Roofs

"California is leading the way to a clean energy future," Schwarzenegger told the audience in an address. "Thirteen years ago, we set a huge goal: to build a million solar roofs in our state by 2019. Republicans and Democrats came together behind a policy that would be successful years after we all left office — it wouldn't be ready for our re-election campaigns — but we understood that big, worthwhile goals were more important than politics."

He added, "Today, we celebrate the vision and the hardworking Californians that made a million solar roofs a reality."

As Schwarzenegger noted in a celebratory tweet, the state now produces about 9 gigawatts from solar roofs, which is about the same amount of energy six large natural gas power plants would produce, saving 22 million tons of CO2.

Today, more than 77,000 people work in the solar industry in California, which is more than in the state's five largest utilities combined.

Bernadette Del Chiaro of the California Solar and Storage Association said that more solar units were sold in the first 12 days of December than in the entirety of 2016, The Sacramento Bee reported.

And the next goal to get California there, now that the first million solar roofs are in place, is to install a million solar-charged batteries.

"This is not the time to take our foot off the gas pedal," Del Chiaro said. "This is the time to double down, to triple down."

h/t: The Sacramento Bee, Solar Power World