SAN FRANCISCO, May 16, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall

 

Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced it has secured an additional 105 megawatts (MW) of clean, renewable energy resources to help meet its customers' future electricity needs. These resources will add enough generation to supply nearly 80,000 PG&E customers with clean, reliable renewable energy.

"PG&E continues to diversify its energy supply with new, renewable electricity resources it purchases on behalf of its customers," said Fong Wan, vice president of energy supply. "The addition of these renewable energy resources ensures that more than 30 percent of our northern and central California customers' energy needs will come from alternative energy sources."

The company has submitted three long term power purchase agreements to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for regulatory review. The three agreements result from PG&E's 2005 Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) procurement solicitation and satisfy the company's obligation to increase its procurement of eligible renewable generating resources by 1 percent of load per year to achieve a 20 percent renewables goal. PG&E anticipates further contract procurement stemming from the 2005 solicitation.

PG&E has a long history of developing, generating, and purchasing renewable power. The utility currently supplies 30 percent of its customer load from alternative resources: 18 percent from its large hydroelectric facilities and 12 percent from smaller renewable resources that qualify under the RPS Program. The three new contracts are:

PG&E will soon be issuing its next Request for Offers (RFO) to solicit renewable energy on behalf of its 5 million electric customers. In this upcoming 2006 renewable energy procurement solicitation, the company is seeking to procure an additional 1-2 percent of its customers' electricity needs through renewable sources

PG&E anticipates issuing the solicitation in early June, with offers being due in late July. The 2006 RPS solicitation will be PG&E's fourth competitive solicitation for renewable energy since 2002. Since then, it has entered into contracts for 563 MW of renewable power from wind, geothermal, biomass, and hydro resources, including the three agreements submitted to the CPUC.

Fong Wan continued, "In our upcoming solicitation, we look forward to building on our success, and continuing to add to a generating portfolio that already has one of the lowest rates of air emissions in the country."

Copies of the 2006 Solicitation Protocol, Power Purchase Agreements, and related information and materials will be available upon issuance of the solicitation on PG&E's website at http://www.pge.com/renewableRFO.

California's RPS Program requires each utility to increase its procurement of eligible renewable generating resources by 1 percent of load per year to achieve a 20 percent renewables goal. The RPS Program was passed by the Legislature and is managed by the CPUC and the California 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

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