Some time ago California passed legislation that requires the state’s power utility companies to get 20% of their power from renewable sources by 2010. This has created a massive opportunity for companies with solar power generation technology. I blogged about a Spanish company that built and is building concentrated solar power (CSP) generation facilities near Seville and well as US projects in California and Nevada.
A California company, BrightSource Energy, has signed contracts with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) for 1.31 GW and 1.3 GW of solar power generation capacity, respectively. BrightSource’s technical team includes engineers who built the SEGS solar-thermal power plants in California in the 1980s. Both SCE and PG&E will purchase electricity from these power plants, which will be owned and operated by BrightSource. BrightSource plans to build the first 100-megawatt power plant in the Mojave Desert near Ivanpah, Calif. The first project could come online by 2013. BrightSource expects to complete the rest of the power projects within six to seven years.
BrightSource Energy has just won a project with Chevron to use its solar technology to produce steam for industrial purposes, but not for power generation, in central California.

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