Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), on Tuesday announced plans for a five-year program to develop up to 500 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) power in its northern and central California service area.
The utility intends to own up to half of the power generation, marking its first direct investment in renewable generation in over a decade. The additional 250 MW will be built and owned by independent developers under a streamlined regulatory process, PG&E said in a release.
PG&E submitting its plan to the California Public Utilities Commission for approval, which could come later this year.
PG&E’s solar program targets mid-sized projects, typically one MW
to 20 MW, mounted on the ground or rooftops, within its service area.
Where feasible, projects developed and owned by PG&E would be built
on land already owned by the utility or near its substations to
minimize the cost and delays of interconnecting them to the power grid.
"I applaud PG&E for its commitment to making a direct investment in clean, renewable solar energy generation that will eventually power tens of thousands of California homes," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. "By bringing renewables online as quickly as possible and advancing the development of green technologies, this effort will advance California’s aggressive push to meet our long-term energy and climate change goals while keeping California on the leading edge of this booming industry."
If all projects are up and running by 2015, they are expected to deliver more than 1,000 gigawatt hours of power each year, equal to the annual consumption of about 150,000 average homes. In all, this program would meet over 1.3 percent of PG&E’s electric demand.
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