SAN DIEGO, March 16, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- With yesterday's approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) of four renewable energy contracts, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) made another significant step toward its goal of fulfilling 20 percent of its customers' energy needs from environmentally friendly renewable sources by 2010.
The contracts total about 140 megawatts (MW) of solar, biomass and geothermal energy. While SDG&E finalized the contracts last year with companies in San Diego and Imperial counties, the CPUC approval gives the official green light for the utility to move ahead with these projects.
"The state's approval of these renewable energy contracts is a win-win situation for our customers and the communities we serve," said Terry Farrelly, vice president of electric and gas procurement for SDG&E. "We look forward to continuing to work with these companies to get their projects up and running so we can deliver more 'green' energy to our customers."
* Bull Moose Energy will gasify green waste, such as tree
trimmings, to generate and deliver 20 MW of electricity from a
biomass facility located in southern San Diego County by December
2008.
* Esmeralda San Felipe Geothermal LLC will provide 20 MW of
geothermal power by December 2010 using heat from beneath the
earth's surface to generate electricity and provide heat.
* Bethel Solar's two contracts will deliver a total of 100 MW of
electricity in two phases in June and December 2008 from silent,
non-polluting solar-power technology, which uses solar-cell
troughs that follow the sun's movement during the day to convert
energy from the sun into electricity at two sites in Imperial
Valley.
"SDG&E is fully committed to investing in renewable resources with the goal to meet the state's requirements on, or ahead of, schedule," added Farrelly.
Earlier this week, SDG&E announced its latest competitive bidding process for more renewable energy, seeking energy that comes from solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and any other clean, renewable resource that qualifies under the rules adopted for the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard program. The plants that produce the power can be inside or outside the SDG&E service territory. SDG&E did not specify a target amount of energy. Bids are due May 30, 2007.
More information about this latest RFO for renewable energy is available at http://www.sdge.com/renewablerfo2007.
San Diego Gas & Electric is a full-service energy utility that serves 3.4 million consumers through 1.4 million electric meters and more than 830,000 natural gas meters. Its service area spans 4,100 square miles and includes more than 125 communities from Southern Orange County to the Mexican border. SDG&E is a regulated subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE). Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company. To learn more, go to www.sdge.com.