California Helps Renewable Energy Companies Gain Foothold Abroad

July 13, 2006

The awards assist California's renewable energy companies to make feasibility studies, market assessments and site analyses crucial to the early stages of project planning abroad that often dictate selection for the job.

Sacramento, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] The California Energy Commission has approved funds to help California's renewable energy companies gain business footholds overseas, including the Baja California Norte region of Mexico.

"California continues to march toward its goal of producing 20 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2010," said Energy Commission Vice Chair James D. Boyd. "Along the way, it is helping energy companies based in the state transfer their technologies to the world's emerging economies."

In a related move, the Commission approved a contract to help facilitate meetings with government agencies in Baja Norte. The idea is to enable state energy policy makers to fully understand the region's energy infrastructure issues as they relate to the border with the United States, particularly California.

At a regular business meeting, the Commission awarded $25,000 each to:

-- Princeton Development Corporation of Sausalito, to tap potential wind power development in the San Felipe region of Baja;

-- Energy Systems International of Monterey, for a project proposing to develop rooftop photovoltaic projects on 1,000 houses in Mexicali; and

-- San Diego Regional Energy Office, for energy audits of facilities in the Maquiladoras area of Tijuana that could drum up other border energy efficiency and onsite generation projects.

The seed money is part of the International Energy Fund administered by the Commission's Energy Technology Export Program. The awards assist California's renewable energy companies to make feasibility studies, market assessments and site analyses crucial to the early stages of project planning abroad that often dictate selection for the job. There is an estimated $125 billion a year in potential energy business abroad.

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