New southern California solar plant opens

• Tweet

PRINCETON, N.J., March 6 (UPI) -- Consumers in southern California will get electricity from the first solar power facility to come on stream in the region since 2006, a utility director said.

NRG Energy, Inc., which has headquarters in New Jersey, said it started commercial operations at its Borrego I photovoltaic facility in California. The facility, with a 26-megawatt capacity, will provide enough solar power to meet the annual energy needs of around 9,000 southern California households.

The company said the Borrego facility is one of the first utility-scale operations in the San Diego area. Electricity from the plant will be sold to San Diego Gas and Electric under a 25-year purchase agreement.

"The Borrego I solar generating station will provide clean renewable solar power for our customers, and is the first utility scale local renewable project to come online in San Diego County since 2006," Matt Burkhart, vice president of electric and fuel procurement for SDG&E, said in a statement.

California's renewable energy standards call on utility companies and electric service providers to use renewable energy for 33 percent of their deliveries by 2020. In 2012, SDG&E relied on renewable energy for 20.3 percent of its retail electricity sales.