PG&E makes major play for solar power

Signaling that alternative energy could one day provide massive amounts of the state’s power, PG&E said Wednesday it signed a contract to buy electricity from what will be one of the world’s largest solar plants.

The deal provides enough power to serve more than 400,000 homes and is big enough to help the company meet aggressive state rules that demand utilities provide 20 percent of their power from renewable energy sources by 2010.

"People who have sort of looked down at renewables because it’s nice and cute but small-scale will now see that the 800-pound gorilla in the room does not have to be a coal plant," said Dan Kammen, co-director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment at the University of California-Berkeley.

By Sarah Jane Tribble
Mercury News

Full Story: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6467159?nclick_check=1