News | Energy Efficiency

http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/sempras-mesquite-project-gets-cpuc-approval.html

Sempra Generation has expanded its renewable power generation asset base after the California Public Utilities Commission gave its permission for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to buy 150MW of solar energy under a twenty year contract.

Sempra is expecting to break ground in June 2011, and produce a solar park that will be able to power over 56,000 homes when fully complete by 2013. Jeffrey Martin, president and CEO of Sempra, welcomed the news noting the strength of Californian solar policy.
‘Approval of this contract is a major step forward for Sempra Generation and it reflects the vision and leadership by PG&E and state policy makers who have put California on the path to a clean energy future,’ said Martin.
The project, named Mesquite Solar 1 and located 40 miles west of Phoenix, is part of a wider planned development that will see the entire complex be expanded to 700MW of capacity.
The approval by the commission is especially significant in the wake of recent sustainability disputes concerning the wider application of solar power.
This week saw the California Energy Commission in court fighting objections from both the Sierra Club and the California Unions for Reliable Energy. Both cases were dismissed by the California State Supreme Court, but it demonstrates the challenges to building solar on a large scale. Sempra Generation remains a diversified energy producer, also holding wind and gas assets.