California utility Pacific Gas & Electric just announced their third major solar deal this year. PG&E are partnering with AV Solar Ranch 1, a subsidiary of NextLight Renewable Power, for 230 megawatts of solar PV power.
The industrial scale facility in the Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles will start to come on-line in 2011 and reach capacity in 2013.
Neither company went into details about the new partnership but both are clearly happy with deal.
"This agreement will help increase the amount of clean energy we provide to our customers and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," John Conway, senior vice president of energy supply for PG&E, said in a statement. "Contracting with companies like NextLight is just one of the many ways in which PG&E is harnessing the power of the sun to meet our customers' energy needs."
Frank DeRosa, chief executive officer of San Francisco-based NextLight, said that the project "will provide cost-effective electricity to PG&E's customers, create jobs and local economic benefits for the Antelope Valley, and contribute to California's renewable energy goals."
Like other investor-owned utilities, PG&E must provide 20% of their power from renewables by the end of 2010 by California law. These three deals indicate they are making impressive headway towards that goal and are good news overall for the solar market.
PG&E gets 12 percent of its energy from renewable sources now, and expects that to increase to 14 percent by the end of the year.
The previously signed the world’s largest solar deal with Brightsource Energy for a 1.3 GW solar thermal facility in the southern desert to come on-line in 2011.
In April, PG&E ventured farther a field, with a deal with Solaren Corp to supply 200 MW from space-based solar arrays as early as 2016.
On Friday, the market seemed pleased with the latest news. PG&E stock was up 0.16% on volume of 2.86M.
Mitchell Anderson is a Vancouver, Canada-based researcher and writer with extensive background in environmental policy and green energy solutions. He holds a masters of science and his writings have been published in a variety of national and international publications including the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Utne Reader and SEED Magazine.
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