Fresno County Assessor Paul Dictos announced today that a record number of acres in Fresno County are producing solar energy.

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More than 3,800 acres in Fresno County are currently producing electricity and adding over $52 million of value to the county’s tax roll, according to Dictos.

And the solar-related tax benefits for the county are only going to increase as earlier this year, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) announced plans for the development of 2,005 megawatts, Dictos added, which will translate into 20,000 acres of future solar facilities in Fresno County.

“All this means more jobs and more tax dollars for our county” said Dictos.

SEIA reports that California has a total of 8,620 megawatts of major solar installed and operating, 1,672 megawatts under construction, and 32,611 megawatts under development, for a total of 42,903 megawatts.

“Solar energy is not only sustainable, it is renewable and this means that we will never run out of it,” Dictos said. “It is about as natural a source of power as is possible to generate electricity.”

“Solar power creates jobs, provides independence, reliability, slows global warming, provides security and saves society billions or trillions of dollars,” Dictos added. “This is good news for our children and our communities.”