PG&E buys additional geothermal power from Calpine

Monday, Nov 02, 2009

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced an agreement with Geysers Power Company, LLC, a subsidiary of Calpine Corporation, to increase and extend the utility's purchases of renewable geothermal power.

PG&E currently has two power purchase agreements with Geysers totaling about 375 megawatts (MW) per year, with enough renewable energy to meet the needs of more than 450,000 average homes. Those agreements expire between the end of 2012 and the end of 2014. The new deal, if approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, would extend the term for Geysers energy through 2021. Total capacity is expected to increase about 50 MW to a total of 425 MW from 2010 through 2017, dropping to a total of about 250 MW from 2018 through 2021.

Geothermal power is a particularly valuable renewable resource because it is highly dependable. Available around the clock, it is less affected by weather, seasons or other factors that create technical challenges for managing some other kinds of renewable power.

"PG&E has been a leader in the use of clean geothermal power for half a century," said Fong Wan, senior vice president for energy procurement at PG&E. "As our new contract indicates, we are committed to making this climate-friendly resource an important part of our growing renewables portfolio for many years to come."

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation, is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to 15 million people in Northern and Central California.

Source: PR Newswire