First Solar and Southern California Edison to develop two solar power projects in California

18th August 2009

Solar energy company First Solar and electric utility company Southern California Edison are to build two large-scale solar power projects in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California.

The development, the largest of their kind, will have a generation capacity of 550MW of photovoltaic solar electricity, enough to provide power to approximately 170,000 homes.

First Solar will engineer and construct the facilities near Desert Centre, California and in north-eastern San Bernardino County, with construction to begin in 2012 and 2013 respectively, with completion expected in 2015.

John Carrington, First Solar executive vice president, said, ‘Supplying solar power to Southern California Edison and its customers advances our mission of providing clean, affordable and sustainable solar electricity. These projects will help California reach its renewable energy goals, and are powerful examples of large-scale photovoltaic solar generation becoming a reality in the US.’

California currently has a goal of delivering 20 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2010 and is considering legislation to increase the goal to 33 per cent by 2020.

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