While Congress continues to debate renewable energy portfolios and infrastructure development, individual states and companies continue to move forward.
On Wednesday, Pacific Gas and Electric announced a deal with solar company, BrightSource Energy for the production of 1,310 megawatts of solar thermal power. There are seven projects in the deal, with the first expected to begin operations in 2012, and all being operational by 2017.
The projects still need to be reviewed and approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. But if it all works out, 530,000 homes will get their peak-hours electricity from the power produced from the BrightSource solar plants.
And this afternoon, New York Governor, David Patterson announced that the Empire State's two power authorities will purchase 150 megawatts of solar through a new program that the governor hopes will make New York the second largest solar power producer in the country. The plan could also end up creating nearly 50,000 jobs.
Patterson has also been quite aggressive in the creation of a new "smart corridor" on Long Island. This "smart corridor" will help customers of the Long Island Power Authority monitor and reduce their energy use. And $25 million has also been set aside to advance the development of Plug-In Hybrids.
Jeff
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