The contracts cover nearly 20 MW of biomass, 68 MW of geothermal and a further 30 MW of wind capacity, delivering 119 MW in all initially. All of the projects are located in California.
The contracts arise from a 2005 competitive renewable solicitation while the 2006 solicitation is underway.
SCE currently serves between 16% and 17% of its demand with renewable energy from more than 2,700 MW of renewable capacity.
The news comes as fellow Californian utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has received approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to contract for renewable power from the Military Pass Road-Newberry geothermal plant in Newberry, Oregon.
The contract will deliver up to 120 MW under California’s Renewables Portfolio Standards (RPS) Program.
PG&E currently supplies 12% of its customer load from renewables.
The RPS Program requires utilities operating in California to obtain 20% of their retail sales from renewable energy sources by 2010.
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