CALIF UTILS GET ‘GO’ ON BIG SUN

California Utilities Approved for 616 Megawatts of Solar Deals
Andrew Herndon, September 2, 2010 (Bloomberg News)

"Southern California Edison Co. and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. received approval from California regulators…for a combined 616 megawatts of solar power purchase agreements.

"Southern California Edison, a unit of Edison International, was approved for two 20-year contracts for the output from 250- megawatt and 300-megawatt thin-film photovoltaic projects proposed by First Solar Inc. in Desert Center and San Bernardino. The projects, named Desert Sunlight and Desert Stateline, are to begin delivering power in 2015…[and the] cost to customers won’t exceed a market price benchmark used to approximate the cost of new fossil-fueled generation during the same period, the [California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)] said."

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"Pacific Gas & Electric, a unit of PG&E Corp., was approved for a 20-year contract to buy the output from NRG Energy Inc.’s 66-megawatt Alpine Suntower project proposed in Riverside County, California. Power deliveries are expected to begin in 2013…NRG originally intended to develop a 92-megawatt project using ESolar’s solar-thermal technology. In May, …NRG chose to reduce the size the project and use conventional photovoltaic panels.

"The contracts will help the two utilities meet obligations under California’s renewable portfolio standard, or RPS, which requires 20 percent of the energy they provide to come from renewable sources by the end of 2010."

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"PG&E and Southern California Edison served 14.4 percent and 17.4 percent of their 2009 load with renewable energy, respectively, according to [the CPUC July 1 RPS Quarterly Report…

"Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric Co., another large California utility, supplied 10.5 percent of its power from renewable resources in 2009, according to the report."