A Lot Of Windmills Are Going To Be Needed ...

The Los Angeles Times is reporting:

The energy landscape of Southern California will look vastly different without San Onofre, officials said in a state Senate committee hearing Wednesday, the first in a series of public discussions on life without the nuclear plant.

The 2,200-megawatt behemoth in northern San Diego County brought a steady supply of power to about 1.4 million homes until equipment problems forced it to close in early 2012.

But the plant's owner, Southern California Edison, announced last month that it would be permanently retired.

That southern California landscape is going to need a lot of windmills or a lot of solar panels.  The good news: California has had about ten years to plan for this contingency.

To put that into perspective, the world's largest off-shore wind farm:

The London Array: will generate 630 megawatts of electricity – enough power for more than 470,000 British homes (Brit homes use significantly less electricity than the average US home).