Sempra Planning Whopping 300MW of Solar

logoThe U.S. southwest will be getting a lot more solar power if Sempra Generation has its way. CEO Michael Allman, speaking Wednesday at a Dow Jones alternative energy conference in Redwood City, Calif., said Sempra aims to be the first company to own and operate 500 MW of solar power in the country.

That’s an aggressive goal for a company that currently has almost all of its assets in natural gas plants and only 10 MW of solar power under operation. But according to Allman, Sempra is planning a whopping, yet-to-be-announced 300MW of solar facilities near Phoenix that would go a long way toward meeting that goal. While Sempra’s 10MW installation near Las Vegas is a ground-mounted installation using First Solar panels, he said the company would also look at solar thermal technology for the new plant. “We’d consider whatever will produce electricity at the lowest cost,” he said.

The company, a subsidiary of San Diego, Calif.-based Sempra Energy, currently has more than 2600 MW of power plants in operation and plans to finance most if not all of the planned buildout from its revenue.

Sempra hinted at its intentions to expand in the solar market last week, when it  announced plans to add an additional 48 MW to its 10MW Nevada plant. Once operational in late 2010, the company claims it will include some 1 million solar panels and become the largest PV installation in North America. Panels made by First Solar will be used in the expansion as well.

Sempra will be looking to the desert to build its 500 MW of new solar power, specifically in Arizona, California and Nevada. CEO Allman said high solar irradiation, affordable and available land, and access to transmission infrastructure were the three factors spurring the company to target America’s southwest.

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