Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced today that it is seeking approval for a 175 megawatt (MW) geothermal power purchasing agreement with Calpine Corporation.
The agreement consolidates six existing qualifying facility agreements totaling 118 MW and adds 57 MW of new renewable energy to PG&E’s supply. With this agreement, PG&E said 20% of its contracts for future energy delivery will meet California’s renewable energy standard.
"This agreement marks a major milestone toward meeting California’s renewable standard," said Fong Wan, vice president of energy procurement at PG&E. "PG&E already provides our customers with some of the cleanest energy in the nation and we will continue to aggressively add more renewables to our portfolio."
PG&E said starting in September 2008, the agreement will deliver renewable energy from The Geysers Geothermal Field in northern California.
The Geysers Geothermal Field, located 75 miles north of San Francisco, California, is the largest producer of geothermal electricity in the world. Geothermal energy accounts for three percent of PG&E’s current overall energy mix, according to a company release.
PG&E said, on average, more than 50% of the energy PG&E delivers comes from carbon-free sources.
California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program requires each utility to increase its procurement of eligible renewable generating resources by 1% of load per year to achieve a 20% renewables goal by 2010.
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