California Regulators Approve NextEra, Tessera Solar Plants

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

California regulators on Wednesday approved construction of two large solar-power plants being developed by NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) and privately held Tessera Solar that are part of a string of large developments that will more than double the solar-power generation capacity in the U.S.

NextEra plans to build a 250-megawatt solar-power plant on federal land in Riverside County using parabolic trough technology, in which curved mirrors are used to direct the sun's heat to a central tube where steam is generated to drive turbines.

PG&E Corp.'s (PCG) utility has signed a long-term contract to purchase the output from NextEra's facility.

Privately held Tessera Solar plans to build a 709-megawatt solar-thermal power plant on federal land in California's remote Imperial Valley. The company will use a series of large dishes lined with curved mirrors to track the sun and beam solar energy to a device where steam is generated to drive a power generator.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100929-715769.html