California PUC approves solar power contract (500 MW)

[jpak]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0823039820100708

California's utility Southern California Edison (SCE_pe.A) won approval on Thursday from regulators to purchase nearly 500 megawatts of renewable power, bringing it closer to the goal to get electricity from alternative sources.

California, the most populous U.S. state and a leader in clean energy, has required its utilities to get 20 percent of its power from renewable sources, like solar and wind, by the end of this year.

The state hopes that figure will rise to 33 percent by 2020, but utilities have so far struggled to hit the targets.

Southern California Edison will use output from two of Solar Millennium LLC unit's 242-megawatt solar-thermal power facilities in California under a 20-year contract, the California Public Utilities Commission said.

The solar thermal project, which will be located in Blythe, California, and is expected to be completed by mid-2014.

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