SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced today it has issued a Request for Offers (RFO) to solicit renewable energy on behalf of its five million electric customers. This marks the company's third renewable energy solicitation pursuant to the State of California Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) program.

"PG&E is proud of its long history of developing, generating, and purchasing clean, renewable sources of power," said Fong Wan, vice president of power contracts and electric resources development. "We look forward to receiving a broad range of competitive products from prospective renewable energy suppliers to help further this tradition."

The utility currently supplies 31 percent of its customer load from renewable resources -- 18 percent from its large hydroelectric facilities and 13 percent from small hydro and other renewable resources that qualify under California's RPS Program -- one of the highest volumes of any utility in the United States. In total, roughly half of PG&E's retail load is served from generating resources that have no CO2 emissions that contribute to global warming.

The renewable energy projects may be proposed in the form of power purchase agreements from new generation sources owned and operated by others or they may be in the form of new generation facilities constructed for utility ownership.

PG&E issued its solicitation today. Binding bids are due by September 15 and the company has a goal to enter into contracts by the end of the year. Parties interested in the RFO may obtain bid documents at PG&E's RFO website www.pge.com/renewablesrfo . Typical sources of renewable energy include power generated from solar, wind, small hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas, and various ocean technologies.

Since PG&E began its RPS Program, it has entered into 13 contracts for 443 MW of renewable energy, enough power to serve more than 325,000 customers. California's RPS Program requires each utility to increase its procurement of eligible renewable generating resources by 1% of load per year, so PG&E anticipates additional renewable solicitations in future years as well. The RPS Program was passed by the Legislature and is managed by California's Public Utilities Commission and Energy Commission.

For more information about Pacific Gas and Electric Company, please visit the company's web site at www.pge.com SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company