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Environment

Partnership To Expand Solar Use In Calif.

UCSD and UC Davis are working together to expand solar energy development in California. KPBS Environment Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The two universities are using a $700,000 grant from the California Energy Commission to help coordinate and expand the use of solar energy.

Through the California Solar Energy Collaborative, UC San Diego and UC Davis will reach out to utilities, solar equipment manufacturers and investors interested in funding solar projects.

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One of the project's leaders is Farrokh Najmabadi, the director of UCSD's Center for Energy Research.

He says researchers hope to help answer some of the technical questions that rise with new solar technologies.

"On how you integrate solar power into the grid, what you do about some energy storage when the sun is not shining and so on and so on," Najmabadi said.

He says the idea is to strengthen ties across academia, industry and the government to create the best solutions for using solar energy.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.