San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has signed a four-year power-purchase agreement with Calpine Energy Services, L.P., a subsidiary of Calpine Corporation (NYSE:CPN), to procure 25 megawatts (MW) of geothermal energy from the Calpine Geysers facilities in Northern California.
The Geysers facility is a complex of 15 geothermal power plants, drawing steam from more than 330 wells, located in the Mayacamas Mountains, approximately 70 miles north of San Francisco. The Geysers is the largest geothermal power producing site in the world, with Calpine owning 725 MW of active installed capacity. Under the agreement, which runs through 2014, the geothermal facility will produce enough “green” power for more than 15,000 households and will contribute more than 200 gigawatt-hours per year of renewable energy toward SDG&E’s Renewable Portfolio Standard procurement goal.
“This geothermal agreement will increase SDG&E’s portfolio of clean power resources to approximately 14% in 2010,” said Matt Burkhart, vice president of electric & fuel procurement
for SDG&E.
SDG&E’s renewable electric supply has grown to more than 14% in 2010 from less than 1% in 2001 and will reach the 20% state mandate by the end of this year with flexible compliance, the company said. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE).
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