California Utility Signs Agreement for 10 Megawatts from Thin-Film Solar Facility
California utility Pacific Gas and Electric announced yesterday it is signing a 20-year agreement to purchase the first 10 megawatts of electricity from Sempra Energy’s El Dorado Solar project near Boulder City Nevada.
The plant was built by Tempe, Arizona-based Firsr Solar using thin film solar panels made of low-cost cadmium tellurium as the material converting sunlight to electrical energy, requiring only 1% of the silicon used in crystalline solar cells. The El Dorado unit is North America’s largest thin-film solar plant, and has plans to expand by another 50 megawatts next year, all part of Sempra’s plan to eventually produce 500MW of thin-film solar power, CEO Michael Altman told Reuters, adding “The size and scope of this new solar generation facility clearly demonstrates that we can build projects on a scale that helps utilities meet their renewable energy goals”.
