PG&E Buys Enough Future Solar Energy for 530,000 Homes

Pacific Gas & Electric and Brightsource Energy today announced they have expanded a series of solar power contracts for a total of 1,310 megawatts of electricity – enough to power 530,000 California homes during peak hours with energy from the Sun.

Completion of the first project will nearly double the amount of solar thermal electricity produced in the United States.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger applauded the deal. "By committing to increase the amount of solar power, this announcement serves as more evidence that reliable, renewable and pollution-free technology is here to stay and sunshine will eventually power hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across our golden state," he said.

PG&E's power purchase agreements cover seven projects utilizing BrightSource Energy's proprietary solar thermal technology. High temperature collectors concentrate sunlight using mirrors that track the Sun to generate electric power.

The total of all seven projects is expected to be 3,666 gigawatt-hours of power each year, equal to the annual consumption of about 530,000 average homes.

Since 2002, PG&E says the company has entered into contracts to buy more than 20 percent of its future electric power deliveries from renewable sources.

On average, half of the electricity PG&E delivers to its 15 million consumers in northern and central California comes from "carbon-free generating sources," the company says.

An artist's conception of a BrightSource solar thermal installation. (Image courtesy BrightSource Energy)

"The solar thermal projects announced today exemplify PG&E's commitment to increasing the amount of renewable energy we provide to our customers throughout northern and central California," said John Conway, senior vice president of energy supply for PG&E.

"Through these agreements with BrightSource, we can harness the Sun's energy to meet our customers' power requirements when they need it most – during hot summer days," he said.

For BrightSource, the contracts mean the success of their technology.

"Today's agreements reflect the technological milestones that the BrightSource Energy team has achieved over the past year," said John Woolard, CEO of BrightSource Energy. "Our technology is setting the bar for efficient production of solar energy. We're thrilled by the opportunity to help PG&E and other leaders bring energy customers more clean and reliable solar energy."

Headquartered in Oakland, California, BrightSource Energy is a privately held company with operations in the United States and Israel.

BrightSource is currently developing its first solar power complex in California's Mojave Desert in Ivanpah, about 50 miles northwest of the railroad town of Needles, and about five miles from the California-Nevada border.

Ivanpah is located in the sweet spot for solar power - about 75 miles northeast of Solar One, the first test of a large-scale thermal solar power tower plant in the country, at Daggett, California.

When completed, the Ivanpah Solar Power Complex will nearly double the amount of solar thermal electricity produced in the United States. The six square mile facility within the 25,000-square mile Mojave Desert and will generate enough electricity to power 140,000 homes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 500,000 tons per year, the company says.

The Ivanpah Complex will be built in three phases – two 100 megawatt facilities and one 200 megawatt facility. The first phase of 100 megawatts is scheduled to start construction in late 2009 and be completed by late 2011. The second phase will begin construction roughly six months after the start of the first phase, in late 2009.

Environmental stewardship is a core value at BrightSource, the company declares on its website.

First, the climate benefits. By replacing a natural gas fired power system, BrightSource Energy's 2.2 gigawatts of contracts with PG&E and Southern California Edison will displace nearly five million tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide annually, the company says.

BrightSource Energy's solar power contracts with PG&E and Southern California Edison are expected to also displace hundreds of tons of other air pollutants each year, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

The scarce water of the Mojave and other desert project areas is treated with respect. Air instead of water is used to cool BrightSource solar plants, reducing water usage by more than 90 percent.

The proprietary process recirculates water during energy production, and then reuses it to clean the mirrors of the solar array, "wringing the maximum use from every drop of the water we consume," the company says.

Water is heated directly into steam, avoiding use of oil or synthetic heat transfer fluids that can be damaging to the environment.

And the land suffers less disruption than with other energy generating installations, the company says. The BrightSource technology places individual mirrors onto metal poles that are driven into the ground, reducing the need for extensive land grading and using fewer concrete pads than other technologies.

BrightSource says the company takes care to select project areas that are near roads and existing transmission lines – places where human activity has already left its mark - where there is a reduced need for new transmission lines, and where environmental impacts can be minimized.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.