SCE, PG&E geothermal power purchases approved

In California, the state’s Public Utilities Commission approved geothermal energy contracts for Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). Edison will procure generation from a new geothermal facility in Imperial County through a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Ram Power, Inc. and Orita Geothermal, LLC. The Orita 1 facility has an expected initial capacity of 50 MW, which may be expanded to 100 MW. The second approval from the CPUC is a PPA between PG&E and the Geysers Power Company, LLC for 50 MW of geothermal capacity from the geothermal resource area in the Sonoma and Lake Counties in California. The agreement also extends the delivery terms for 375 MW already under contract.