@font-face {“Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt;”Times New Roman”; }a:link, span.MsoHyperlink { color: blue; text-decoration: underline; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: purple; text-decoration: underline; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }
San Diego, November 11, 2010 — San Diego Gas and Electric signed a 25-year power-purchase agreement with a subsidiary of CSolar Development, a renewable energy company managed by Tenaska Solar Ventures, to procure up to 130 MW of renewable power. The solar photovoltaic energy will come from a proposed facility in Imperial County.
“SDG&E is committed to developing new sources of green energy for our customers and this contract illustrates the concentrated effort we’ve made to securing renewable resources in the Imperial Valley,” said James P. Avery, senior vice president of power supply for SDG&E. “These clean resources will provide our customers in the San Diego region with new renewable energy via the Sunrise Powerlink.”
The agreement between SDG&E and CSolar Development is for up to 130 MW of solar photovoltaic capacity to be constructed on a 900-acre site in the southern part of Imperial County called the “Imperial Solar Energy Center South.” The project is slated for completion in 2014.
The ground-mounted photovoltaic solar power generating system will have a combined capacity of up to 130 MW of electricity. When operating at peak times, the Imperial Solar Energy Center South will produce enough electricity to meet the needs of about 44,000 California homes.
Photovoltaic technology converts sunlight directly into electricity with panels that do not produce noise or emit any greenhouse gases. The technology has limited water supply requirements, an important consideration for the Imperial Valley. In addition to producing clean electricity, the facility represents a significant economic investment in Imperial County and will create hundreds of area construction jobs.
The power generated by the new Imperial Solar Energy Center South will be delivered to customers in SDG&E’s service territory across the Sunrise Powerlink, a 120-mile, 500-kilovolt electric transmission line, which was designed to tap into the vast renewable resources of the Imperial Valley.
When completed in 2012, the new power line is expected to carry up to 1,000 MW of electricity. Without the Sunrise Powerlink, many renewable energy facilities in the Imperial Valley would have no clear path to the San Diego County market.
This new power contract is just one of three new solar agreements with Imperial Valley renewable energy developers in the past six months for approximately 300 MW of power for delivery to customers over the Sunrise Powerlink.
This summer, SDG&E signed two contracts with LS Power for power from the company’s Centinela Solar Energy facility, which will provide up to 175 MW of renewable power. Securing renewable energy from the Imperial Valley is a key focus of SDG&E’s power purchase efforts.
