PG&E Tallies Renewable Energy Gains in 2011

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Helping to meet California's environmental goals, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) added more than 220 megawatts of clean wind and solar power to its generation mix in 2011 and signed contracts for future delivery of 463 megawatts of new renewable power, enough to serve tens of thousands of customers, the company said today.

"Our long-term commitment to renewable energy continued to pay off last year as more projects came online, providing our customers with some of the cleanest generation found in the United States," said Fong Wan, senior vice president for energy procurement at PG&E. "We continue to encourage project developers to help us meet California's aggressive clean-energy goals as cost-effectively as possible for our customers."

Last year PG&E began receiving power from five solar photovoltaic projects built by independent developers, bringing 135 MW of new capacity online. It also began producing power at three sites developed by the utility itself in the Central Valley, for another 50 MW of capacity. In addition, PG&E signed contracts for 200 MW of new solar power in coming years.

PG&E brought 37 MW of new wind capacity online last year and signed two new contracts totaling 263 MW.

PG&E estimates that about 19 percent of its electricity sales in 2011 came from eligible renewable sources (not counting large hydro) and anticipates reaching 20 percent this year. Like other utilities in the state, it must boost that figure to 33 percent by 2020.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to 15 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/.

SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)

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