Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has signed agreements with two photovoltaic (PV) solar developers that will deliver up to 7 MW of capacity.
Under the agreements the companies, Cleantech America and GreenVolts, will complete the projects in 2009.
Cleantech America’s CalRENEW-1 project, located near PG&E’s Mendota substation in Fresno County, will generate 5 MW of peaking power and will be one of the largest pure PV facilities in the US.
The GreenVolts GV1 solar plant, to be located in Tracy, California, will provide 2 MW using the company’s patent-pending high concentration photovoltaic system which requires only half the land area of conventional flat panel PV technologies.
“When completed, the GV1 project will be the largest concentrator photovoltaic project in the world,” said Bob Cart, founder and chief executive of GreenVolts.
In related news, PG&E has signed an agreement with the City and County of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Energy Co to conduct a comprehensive study to assess the possibilities for harnessing the tides in San Francisco Bay.
The study will begin this summer and is estimated to take approximately twelve months. If the study results were to support the development of a project, the undertaking would require governmental regulatory review and approval, including public participation and as a result, the parties estimate that operation of a project would be at least three to five years away.
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