menkoji@sacbee.com Published Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has state regulatory approval to buy solar power from what will be the largest operating photovoltaic solar plant in North America. The California Public Utilities Commission this week approved the utility’s plan to contract with Sempra Generation for 48 megawatts of photovoltaic solar power from Sempra’s Copper Mountain Solar facility.  

Construction to expand an existing 10-megawatt plant near Boulder City, Nev., will begin in January. PG&E already has a contract for power from the 10-megawatt plant.

The combined 58-megawatt output will make the site the largest of its kind in North America, according to Sempra, with nearly a million solar panels.

The plant’s desert site, 40 miles southeast of Las Vegas, assures reliable daytime energy for 330 days a year, Sempra said.

Although solar plants generate power only during the day, that is typically the time of highest demand, and the combined power output can serve about 14,000 homes annually, according to PG&E.

The utility is expanding its renewable energy portfolio, including power from wind, geothermal, biomass and solar, said company spokesman Denny Boyles.

PG&E and the state’s other large investor-owned utilities are under a state mandate to have 20 percent of their power provided by renewable resources by 2010. PG&E is up to 14 percent, Boyles said.

PG&E provides electric service to the Sacramento region, excluding Sacramento County and the city of Roseville.

Sempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra General in San Diego, produces 2,600 megawatts of power with natural gas.

Call The Bee’s M.S. Enkoji, (916) 321-1106.