SOUTHLAND CALIFORNIA SUMMARIZED HISTORY, FACTS,  AND DEMOGRAPHICS 

Economic Activities

Electricity

Hydroelectric facilities provided 42 percent of the electricity generated in California in 1998. Thermal power plants burning fossil fuels provided another 23 percent, while 30 percent of California's electricity generation comes from four nuclear reactors, two at Diablo Canyon west of San Luis Obispo and two at San Onofre southeast of San Clemente. The city of Los Angeles imports power from a nuclear plant at Palo Verde in Arizona. Southern California also imports electricity generated at coal-fired thermal plants in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Renewable energy sources such as wind-power generators and geothermal power plants, which use heat from the Earth to make steam, accounted for 4 percent of electricity production in 1998.