SolarReserve signs power contract with PG&E for Californian Rice solar project

23 December 2009

US solar developer SolarReserve has signed an agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) for the sale of electricity from its Rice solar energy project. The 150MW solar energy project will be located 30 miles northwest of the city of Blythe in eastern Riverside County, California.

When complete, SolarReserve’s facility will supply approximately 450,000 MWh of energy annually, utilising United Technologies’ advanced molten salt system, which SolarReserve exclusively holds the license for.

‘We are extremely pleased to contract with PG&E for the power generated from this important project,’ said Kevin Smith, SolarReserve’s CEO. ‘The project will use a dry cooling system that minimises water usage without significantly impacting the plant’s operational performance.’

Subject to comprehensive environmental review by cooperating state and federal agencies, the company says the Rice project could break ground as early as spring of 2011 and will have an annual operating budget of more than $5m, with the majority of the budget spent in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

California State Assemblyman Brian Nestande said, ‘This project shows that revolutionary technologies will be an important factor in meeting our future energy needs. As a state, we need to create a business climate conducive to private innovation and investment in the form of infrastructure and jobs.’

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, SolarReserve is a solar energy project development company that holds the exclusive worldwide license to the molten salt, solar power tower technology developed by United Technologies Corporation. The company also recently signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with NV Energy for the sale of electricity from its Nevada-based Crescent Dunes solar energy project.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: solar

This story was published on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 11:40 am and is filed under North America, companies, solar. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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