Clean Energy Solutions

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PG&E delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to our customers. And we are planning for the future by exploring new sources of renewable technologies. We are also actively involved in investing in state-of-the-art, cleaner sources of fossil fuel-based power to meet growing demand.

Delivering Low-Emission Energy

On average, approximately half of the electricity PG&E delivers to its customers comes from a combination of renewable and greenhouse gas-free resources.

The power mix we provided to our customers in 2010 consisted of non-emitting nuclear generation (23.8 percent), large hydroelectric facilities (15.6 percent) and eligible renewable resources (15.9 percent), such as wind, geothermal, biomass and small hydro. The remaining portion came from natural gas/fossil (21.8 percent) and unspecified sources (22.9 percent). Unspecified sources refers to electricity that is not traceable to specific generation sources by any auditable contract trail.

Investing in Renewables

PG&E has a long history of developing, generating and purchasing renewable power. We are aggressively adding more renewables to our power mix under California's renewable portfolio standard and now have contractual commitments to have more than 20 percent of our future deliveries come from renewables.

We continue to explore other pioneering technologies:

• We have made recent announcements on plans for new wind-energy resources and solar energy for our customers.
• We issue an annual renewable energy procurement solicitation where we seek to procure additional renewable resources for our customers.

PG&E can also purchase power from customers who install eligible renewable generation up to 1.5 MW in size. Customers can choose a full "buy/sell" option, which means PG&E will purchase all of the electricity their facility generates, or they can choose to use some of the electricity for their own needs and PG&E will purchase only the excess. To participate, customers and PG&E both sign a standard power purchase agreement and the customer must arrange to interconnect to PG&E’s grid. There are two separate tariffs available to make such sales—one for eligible public water and wastewater customers and one for all other customers with eligible, renewable facilities. The California Public Utilities Commission has declared that participating customers are not eligible for net metering, or for rebates from PG&E's Self-Generation Incentive Program or the California Solar Initiative.

 

Harnessing the Sun

PG&E received approval for a five-year program to develop up to 500 MW of clean solar photovoltaic power in our northern and central California service area, one of the largest undertakings of its kind in the country.

We also continue to add renewable resources to our energy supply through contracts with third-party developers for new and existing resources. In 2010, this included nearly 750 MW of solar photovoltaic power.

Benefiting our customers further, PG&E administers the California Solar Initiative, an ambitious program designed to boost the amount of customer-installed solar capacity in California. California's goal is to create 3,000 megawatts of new, customer-installed solar capacity by 2017. PG&E paid and reserved $103 million in rebates for 218 MW of both installed and currently active residential and commercial solar installations last year. This accounted for more than half of the total customer applications to reserve funding for residential and commercial solar projects. Learn more about solar energy.

Managing Our Hydro Operations

PG&E owns and operates the nation's largest investor-owned hydroelectric system, providing a safe and reliable source of clean energy for millions of customers.

The system is built along 16 river basins stretching nearly 500 miles—from Redding in the north to Bakersfield in the south. PG&E's 68 powerhouses, including a pumped storage facility, have a total generating capacity of 3,896 MW and rely on nearly 100 reservoirs located primarily in the higher elevations of California’s Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascade mountain ranges.

Investing in Cleaner Conventional Sources

Although energy efficiency and renewable energy are playing larger roles in our plans to meet future demand, investment in new conventional generation facilities is also necessary to meet our customers' needs.

PG&E's Gateway Generating Station in Contra Costa County yields dramatically less CO₂ for every megawatt-hour produced compared to older plants and uses "dry" cooling, which allows the plant to use 97 percent less water than older plants with "once-through" cooling water systems.

We have also brought the Colusa Generating Station, a 657 MW combined cycle natural gas power plant, into service. The facility serves nearly half a million homes using the latest technology and environmental design, including dry cooling technology and the same combustion controls enhancements used at Gateway. Additionally, we have put the 163 MW Humboldt Bay Generating Station into service; it employs technology that, on average, produces 98 percent less NOx and nearly 35 percent less CO₂ than the retired facility at the site, while also eliminating the need for "once-through" cooling.