California utilities set renewable power requests

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric have sent out solicitations to purchase renewable energy, the two utilities said on Tuesday .

PG&E will buy the power from renewable power generators and will also entertain offers for it to buy new renewable generation sites or plants, the company said.

"PG&E intends to sign contracts equaling 1 to 2 percent of its demand in order to achieve a 20 percent renewable power goal by 2010," said Fong Wan, PG&E vice president of energy procurement.

"Our goal is to meet the state's requirements on, or ahead of, schedule," said Terry Farrelly, SDG&E vice president for electric and gas procurement.

PG&E, SDG&E and Southern California Edison -- the state's three investor-owned utilities -- are striving to meet a state mandate to have under contract a fifth of power generation from renewable sources by 2010.

Renewables include solar, biomass, wind, geothermal and small hydropower generation.

PG&E Co., a subsidiary of PG&E Corp. (PCG.N), is the biggest utility in California, with 5 million electricity customers. So Cal Ed, a subsidiary of Edison International (EIX.N), is next with 4.7 million customers and SDG&E, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (SRE.N), has 1.3 million electric customers.

About 12 percent of electricity delivered by PG&E now comes from renewable sources, the company said. Between 16 percent and 18 percent of its contracted power is from renewables. The percentage varies depending on sunny and windy conditions.

Renewables account for about 6.4 percent of SDG&E deliveries. Another 6 percent is under contract. The utility seeks regulatory approval for the Sunrise Powerlink transmission line from Imperial Valley in the southeastern California. That line will carry "as much as 1,000 megawatts" of renewable energy, SDG&E said, and is needed if the utility will meet state goals, said spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan.

A PG&E bidders conference is set for April 3 and offers are due May 31. Deadline for SDG&E bids is May 30.

PG&E environmental communications manager Keely Wachs said, "We think we'll surpass 20 percent under contract by 2010."

He said it is difficult to say how much of PG&E delivered power will be from renewables.

Last week in its fifth request for proposals for its renewable power effort, So Cal Ed also said it will likely have renewables account for 20 percent of its power contracts but may not have 20 percent delivered by 2010.

PG&E covers much of northern and central California, So Cal Ed covers much of southern and central California and SDG&E covers 125 communities from southern Orange County to the Mexican border.

After 2010, California will require the state's utilities to continue to increase its renewable portfolio standards by at least 1 percent per year. The state legislature is considering a proposal to increase the renewable standard to 33.3 percent by 2020.