California adds wind power farm to electricity grid
Date: 02-Sep-02
Country: USA
The Cabazon Wind Project - 62 turbines with a total generating capacity of up to 41 megawatts - went on line in the San Gorgonio Pass near Palm Springs in Southern California.
Davis said in a statement that the project joins 18 other wind farms in California, where about 12 percent of the state's power generation come from renewable resources.
Wind energy accounts for about 1.5 percent of the state's generation. About half of the electricity in the state is fueled by natural gas.
The Cabazon project will sell electricity at 5.4 cents a kilowatt hour under a long-term contract with the state's Department of Water Resources.
The California Energy Commission has a $242 million incentive program to encourage development of electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar, biomass or geothermal.
Davis has said he would sign a legislative bill on renewable energy once it reached his desk. The measure requires that by 2017, 20 percent of the energy purchased by the state's utilities come from renewable sources.
