Edison gets approval for solar plants
KERN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA - Edison International received state approval to go ahead with a contract with a local solar energy startup for new solar power plants in Kern County.
The California Public Utilities Commission approved the 20-year contract between Rosemead-based Edison and eSolar Inc., a Pasadena-based renewable energy start-up financed by Google.org, Idealab and Oak Investment Partners. The contract calls for Edison to purchase up to 245 megawatts of electricity from solar power plants built by eSolar in the northern Antelope Valley.
The power plants will use mirrors to focus sunlight on towers containing water. The water is heated and turned into steam, which powers turbines and generates electricity.
The first of these solar power plants is set to come online in early 2012.
Related News
Energy experts: US electric grid not designed to withstand the impacts of climate change
NEW YORK - As heat ramps up ahead of what forecasters say will be a hotter than normal summer, electricity experts and officials are warning that states may not have enough power to meet demand in the coming months. And many of the nation's grid operators are also not taking climate change into account in their planning, even as extreme weather becomes more frequent and more severe.
Power operators in the Central US, in their summer readiness report, have already predicted "insufficient firm resources to cover summer peak forecasts." That assessment accounted for historical weather and the latest NOAA outlook that…
