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Ausra Signs Deal With PG&EPOSTED November 9, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced that it has entered into a 177 megawatt solar thermal power purchasing agreement with Ausra Inc. The project, to be located in central California, is being developed by Ausra. Ausra is a privately held company located in Palo Alto and funded by Khosla Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. "Today's agreement between PG&E and Ausra highlights how clean energy will create jobs in California while delivering a reliable source of renewable energy," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. "I'm pleased to see California companies rising to the challenge of AB 32, California's historic initiative to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change. Clearly, California continues to lead the nation in clean energy research, development and generation." The plant, to be located in San Luis Obispo County is expected to begin generating power in 2010. Ausra has filed its Application for Certification for this plant with the California Energy Commission, which must grant approval before construction begins. "Solar thermal technology provides our customers with a reliable source of clean renewable energy that is ideally suited to meet peak energy loads," said Fong Wan, vice president of energy procurement, PG&E. "By partnering with Ausra, we are taking another significant step in providing our customers with some of the cleanest energy in the nation." Ausra projects that the power plant will create over 350 skilled jobs on-site during construction, and an additional 100 permanent jobs in the area. The plant will burn no fuel, use minimal water, and have no air or water emissions. At 177 megawatts of capacity, the project will use only one square mile (640 acres) of land due to the exceptional area efficiency of Ausra's collector technology. "This 177-megawatt plant is the first manifestation of Ausra and PG&E's shared vision of competitively priced, large-scale solar electric power," said Glen Davis, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Ausra. "We're excited to be partnering with PG&E to deliver clean power at hours of peak demand." Ausra's new Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) solar
technology utilizes the heat from the sun's rays to create steam.
Solar collectors boil water at high temperatures to power steam
turbine generators, in much the same way as traditional fossil-fuel
power plants, but without use of fuels or emissions. © Copyright SVDaily.com |
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