First Solar and Southern California Edison Collaborate On Solar Projects

First Solar and Southern California Edison announced today a joint venture agreement to collaborate on two large solar power projects. The projects are scheduled to be installed in two counties in Southern California.

First Solar will design and build the two solar power plants using their PV solar technology. The projects will bring a total of 550 MW of PV solar energy to California which will provide electricity to 170,000 homes. 

Desert Sunlight will be installed in Desert Center, California and have the capacity to generate 250 MW of solar energy. Stateline will be installed in San Bernardino, California and have the capacity to generate 300 MW of solar energy.

The agreement for power purchases are still awaiting approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, but pending the approval of government permits, installation at Desert Sunlight is anticipated to begin in 2012, and Stateline to begin in 2013.

Southern California Edison has been rapidly expanding into the solar energy market, in 2008 the company delivered 12.6 billion kWh of energy gleaned from renewables to its customers. The new projects will not be the first occasion that Southern California Edison and First Solar will have worked together. The two companies also collaborated in 2008 on three other projects.