Solar panels could save California. But they hurt the desert [Video]

High above the Las Vegas Strip, solar panels blanketed the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center — 26,000 of them, rippling across an area larger than 20 football fields.

From this vantage point, the sun-dappled Mandalay Bay and Delano hotels dominated the horizon, emerging like comically large golden scepters from the glittering black panels. Snow-tipped mountains rose to the west.

It was a cold winter morning in the Mojave Desert. But there was plenty of sunlight to supply the solar array.

“This is really an ideal location,” said Michael Gulich, vice president of sustainability at MGM Resorts International.

The same goes for the rest of Las Vegas and its sprawling suburbs.

Sin City already has more solar panels per person than any major U.S. metro outside Hawaii, according to one analysis. And the city is bursting with single-family homes, warehouses and parking lots untouched by solar.

There’s enormous opportunity to lower household utility bills and cut climate pollution — without damaging wildlife habitat or disrupting …