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San Diego, May 18, 2011 — San Diego Gas & Electric and subsidiaries of Soitec Solar Development, LLC, a renewable energy company managed by Soitec, announced the signing of two additional 25-year contracts for a total of 125 MW of solar energy to be generated in the utility’s service territory.
The energy will be produced using Soitec’s Concentrix concentrator photovoltaic technology with solar modules manufactured in a new Soitec factory to be built in the San Diego area.
These new agreements are separate from the three San Diego contracts the two companies signed in April for 30 MW of CPV-generated solar power.
Combined, the five contracts SDG&E recently signed with Soitec represent five separate projects capable of generating a combined total of 155 MW of renewable solar power, or enough energy to supply more than 60,000 homes. Both of the new proposed projects will be located in San Diego County and will be situated near SDG&E electric substations.
The announcement confirms the attractiveness of Soitec’s renewable energy technology — which generates large amounts of power with industry-leading efficiency and low environmental impact — in areas such as Southern California with abundant sunshine.
Soitec’s new manufacturing facility will have an annual production capacity of 200 MW and will supply all of SDG&E’s projects with Soitec with the Concentrix CPV technology, which produces power at a much higher efficiency relative to standard solar panels.
At full capacity, Soitec’s San Diego operations facility will generate up to 450 direct jobs and more than 1,000 indirect jobs. The factory location is expected to be announced this summer, with completion within 18 months of construction start.
The power contracts require approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.
