Well the wind industry did it! There is now over 20,000 MW of wind capacity in the United States. That amount was projected to be built in twenty years. The bulk of it was installed in two.

So how long will it take to "solarize" America? Who will do it? We all want clean and abundant energy. How long will it take to capture the power of the sun and make it a dominant, sustainable energy source? It will only take a combined area about the size of New Mexico for our country to be totally energy independent, flourishing in a solar-hydrogen economy. Let's go!

"Wait," say the carbon-laden vested interests and sadly, the short-sighted ratepayer advocates. They say it's not just whether we go but it's a matter of how fast we go. What about stranded assets, and just how willing are we to pay more for renewable power sources to secure the energy future? Of course it's going to cost more initially to leverage massive savings over time. So who's stretching? Who's raising the bar?

California's landmark Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, established the State's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Of all power generation in the state, a fifth must be supplied by qualified renewable facilities by 2010. California's renewable portfolio is currently 11.9%; with two years to go, it's unlikely that we'll achieve the goal.

Californians will now vote on Proposition 7, the proposed Solar and Clean Energy Act of 2008. It dramatically accelerates renewable energy development. It calls for half of the power generation to be renewable energy by 2025. The Prop 7 vision includes "solar and clean energy parks." It spells out progressive tools like feed-in tariffs to accomplish its goal. It's a giant step toward the future that so many of us desperately want. It indeed would create a solar revolution. But it's drawing the ire of an alliance of utilities (that have committed over $20 million to defeat it), environmental groups, and solar companies. What's up with that?

The proposal is drowning in details and ideology. Rather than presenting a goal and leaving its implementation to others, the 38-page, complex, and prescriptive act is full of holes and is taking on water. Critics call it a "dysfunctional" means of fulfilling a virtuous objective. Small, renewable installations less than 30 MW in size are excluded; their capacity is not counted. Prop 7 squarely focuses on large-scale installations, potentially leaving the distributed generation (DG) movement in the dust.

So there's a storm brewing in California over the timing, scale, and ownership of renewable energy systems. Solar installers, environmentalists, cities, and others want decentralized systems. These are poised to fully serve micro-grids, charge electric vehicles (like the new GM Volt), and keep the means of production decentralized, local, and secure. Communities such as Santa Monica and Palm Desert have launched "energy independence" programs that pull the responsibility for energy back to the community level.

While All American, the DG ideology and community initiatives are challenging the very core of the power system and utility ownership model that we've had for the past century. Naturally, utilities want to own the means of production. Second best, from a utility perspective, are secure, large-scale power purchase arrangements. And if their customers want or regulators stipulate roof-top solar, utilities want to own that form of solar revolution -- witness Southern California Edison's distribution warehouse rooftop program. Duke Energy just announced an 850-rooftop program in North Carolina, strategically superior to net metering.

California's Proposition 7 has a lofty vision but does not effectively combine the mighty forces of central and decentralized renewable projects. As written, it promotes one form of solar revolution, potentially inadvertently creating solar oligopolies. Will small companies, and the decentralized solar revolution, become expendable? Not necessarily. The California Solar Initiative needs to be reinforced with recalibrated, indexed incentives and new mechanisms such as feed-in tariffs to complement net metering. To fully engage the best solar revolution, we need to promote big and small renewable energy projects, and we need effective mandates to guide us in that direction.