Major Wind and Solar Thermal Deals Announced

In the past week and a half, there were two major developments in US renewable energy sector.

First, the Texas Public Utilities Commission announced that it has assigned $5 billion for Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) Transmission Projects to Texas transmission companies. The goal of the CREZ projects are to transfer wind power from rural parts of Texas, which have significant and abundant wind resources, to the more populated and metropolitan areas of Texas.

The CREZ Transmission Projects are a landmark breakthrough and are a result of intensive cooperation and coordination amongst a wide variety of stakeholders -- land owners, investor-owned utilities, private transmission companies, the Public Utilities Commission of Texas, environmental organizations, river authorities, and more.

Scope of the project
POWERnews reports that the CREZ transmission projects "will eventually transmit 18,456 MW of wind power...the regulatory body expects that the new lines will be in service within four or five years."


Second, the LA Times announced today that BrightSource Energy has signed a deal with Southern California Edison to supply 1,300 megawatts of solar-thermal power. Solar-thermal "uses heat from the sun to create steam to spin electric turbines" (LA Times). This is the largest solar-thermal deal to date. Article.Link.