Economy

Iberdrola And PG&E Sign Wind Energy Deal

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published December 3, 2009 at 12:01 PM PST

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company signed a contract to buy and operate a wind-energy project that will produce enough electricity for about 100,000 California homes.

The San Francisco-based utility said Thursday it signed the deal with Portland-based Iberdrola Renewables, Inc., the U.S. arm of Spain's Iberdrola, S.A.

Iberdrola will develop and build the Manzana Wind Project for PG&E on 7,000 acres in eastern Kern County.

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It would be PG&E's first wind-power plant, which the company estimates will cost just over $900 million.

PG&E, which provides electricity for most of northern and central California, says it plans a 25-cent rate increase for the average residential customer to help finance the project.

The plant still needs the approval of the California Public Utilities Commission.

Iberdrola has proposed building a wind project in southeastern San Diego County that would produce 200 megawatts of electricity. The Tule Wind Power Project would be built on federal Bureau of Land Management, Indian and state lands.

The company recently filed an application with the County of San Diego Planning Department for a Major Use Permit. Iberdrola expects the county to hold hearings on the permit application sometime next year.

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-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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