PV-Magazine: BY: Jonathan Gifford, The Californian Public Utilities Commission approved today approved five renewable energy contracts worth 1,088MW. Three of the agreements were signed with Southern California Edison and Solar Star California–which is subsidiary of SunPower–for the Quinto, AVSP I and AVSP II photovoltaic projects, collectively worth 711 megawatt (MW). The power purchase agreement (PPA) contracts are each for 20 years, and the three photovoltaic projects will be located near Los Banos and Rosamond
The Californian Public Utilities Commission encourages photovoltaics through a number of schemes including PPAs for utility-scale projects. Image: flirckr/Port of San Diego.
outside of Los Angeles. The Quinto project is expected to begin delivering power by the end of 2014, with the AVSP I and AVSP II projects doing so in October 2016. The PPAs were signed as the major utility moves towards the legal requirement in the state, that all utilities to procure one third of their power from renewable sources by 2020. Two wind projects worth 78.2 MW and 299 MW were approved at the same time. Yesterday, Pacific Gas & Electric announced that 185 MW of photovoltaic projects began supplying electricity to it in 2011.Source: PV-Magazine
