The California Energy Commission has approved funding agreements for 14 renewable power plants to be built in various California locations. When operated, these power plants - four landfill gas, nine wind and one biomass - will add nearly 90 megawatts of renewable energy to California's electricity generation mix.
The landfill gas projects will receive $7,057,269 in payments ranging between .89 and 1.24 cents for each kilowatt-hour of renewable energy produced over five years, once they begin generating electricity. These four methane-recovery projects in Livermore, Half Moon Bay, Milpitas, and near Watsonville will produce about 22 megawatts of renewable energy.
Wind projects totaling nearly 62 megawatts of renewable capacity will receive $12,092,920 in payments ranging between .75 to 1.37 cents for each kilowatt-hour of renewable energy produced over the same period. These projects consist of approximately 100 new wind turbines to be located near Mojave and Palm Springs.
A 3.8 megawatt biomass project in Anderson will receive $2,154,600 in payments of 1.35 cents a kilowatt-hour produced over five years. Fuel for this facility will include forest residue, whole tree chips, agricultural clippings and local residential green waste.
These 14 projects make up the second round of funding award agreements approved among the 55 successful proposals granted conditional funding in June 1998 as part of an auction conducted by the Energy Commission. In the auction, project proponents submitted bids for a fixed cents-per-kilowatt hour financial incentive for renewable generation produced and sold during the first five years of plant operation. Winning bidders were selected starting with the least subsidy requested until all of the available auction funds were allocated.
In all, $162 million was allocated through the auction to 55 bidders for new wind, geothermal, landfill gas, biomass, digester gas, and small hydroelectric projects. The amount represents 30 percent of the $540 million renewables fund established by AB 1890, the law that established electricity utility industry restructuring. The law provides for the collection of funds from customers of the state's three largest investor-owned electric utilities over four years, beginning in 1998, to support existing, new, and emerging renewable technologies.
Return to What's New!