Solar power glut boosts California electric bills. Other states reap the benefits

California 's solar farms have curtailed production of more than 3 million megawatt hours of solar energy in the last 12 months .

That’s enough to power 518,000 California homes for a year .

The waste would have been even larger if California had not paid utilities in other states to take the excess solar energy.

Arizona 's largest public utility reaped $69 million in savings last year by buying from market California created to get rid of excess solar power.

New Mexico utility said it saved $34 million by participating in market California created to get rid of excess power.

California already produces more solar than any other state.

California must triple the rate of the construction of industrial-scale solar installations over the next two decades to get to a carbon-free electrical grid by 2045 .

As California and other states have required utilities to buy more renewable power, demand for the RECs has skyrocketed.

"All of a sudden there was a huge demand" for the credits, expert says.

That means a solar farm can still earn a profit even when prices are deeply negative.