PG&E plans for solar power (500 MW by 2010)

[jpak]

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2006/08/07/daily38.html

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has contracted with Luz II LLC to buy at least 500 megawatts of solar energy beginning in the spring of 2010.

The energy would come from solar-gas power plants that could produce electricity at any time of the day. The site for the plants has not been determined. The projects would produce enough power for 350,000 PG&E customers.

PG&E plans to add 300 megawatts of power per year from renewable sources. It has recently signed contracts for 274 megawatts of wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable energy.

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[Dogmudgeon]

1. Solar-gas? How much solar, and how much gas?

We're pretty close to "peak gas", too.

The solar part is worth keeping an eye on. SoCal is favored for lots of sunlight. Maybe now a little investment will be forthcoming.

--p!

[jpak]

3. more info....

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15250217.htm

PG&E vows fivefold increase in solar use
PLANTS TO BE BUILT; WILL USE SUN, STEAM TO PRODUCE ENERGY

<snip>

The deal calls for at least one 100-megawatt solar-thermal plant, which will use both the sun and steam to produce energy, to be built within four years. Several other plants will follow, said Charles Ricker, president of LUZ II's U.S. operations.

If completed, the amount of solar power produced in California would dwarf the 380 megawatts currently being produced by large-scale solar plants nationwide.

<snip>

The LUZ solar-thermal plants will use reflecting mirrors, or heliostats, that will send concentrated sunlight to a collection point that will heat water, turning it into steam. That steam will provide the energy for a turbine that will produce energy, Ricker said. He declined to provide pictures or more detail of the process, saying it was proprietary information.

The company also doesn't know exactly where the plants will be built, but Ricker said they may not be in one location.

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[phantom power]

2. Hmph. Too slow.