Energy Roundup: LA Uses the Sun, SF Charts Rooftop Solar, and More

(MoneyWatch)  Los Angeles embarks on the world's largest solar power project -- Solar L.A., a program that lays out a broad and long-term plan to develop a network of residential, commercial and city-owned solar systems, will be the largest plan attemped by any city in the world, city officials said. The project will start by utilizing $313 million in state rebate funding and is scheduled for completion in 2020. [Source: Alternative Energy]

Gas producers meet in Russia -- The world's largest natural-gas exporters gathered in Moscow today to develop closer ties on the heels of a Russian threat to cut supplies to the Ukraine because of unpaid bills. Western countries have warned against a coalition for natural-gas producers similar to OPEC. [Source: AFP]

San Francisco rooftops mapped for potential solar capacity -- Starting with San Francisco, engineering firm CH2M Hill is working with the U.S. Department of Energy to provide online solar maps of 25 American cities. The program will utilize Google Earth technology to show the precise solar potential of neighborhoods, rooftop by rooftop. [Source: San Francisco Sentinel]

French energy utility's purchase of British counterpart approved -- European authorities have approved a plan under which Electricité de France will purchase British Energy. Both companies will have to divest power stations and sell land assets before construction on a new nuclear facility could begin. [Source: World Nuclear News]

Wind-power boom slows during recession -- The financial slowdown is drastically slowing the growth of wind power in the United States. Many corporate partners in that boom, like the insurer AIG and now-bankrupt financial services company Lehman Brothers, have been squeezed by the faltering economy. The country's wind-power output has increased by 500 percent in the last decade, two thirds of which came since 2005, but developers and utilities are cutting back on new projects thanks to scarce funds. [Source: AP]