Renewable deals down, costs up at PG&E

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has slammed into a green roadblock: The contracts it signs to buy renewable power keep falling through.

As a result, the San Francisco-based utility is struggling to meet the state’s mandate to get a third of its power from renewable sources by 2020. Worse, critics say, the dearth of partners could force PG&E to pay ever higher prices for clean energy, the cost of which will ultimately land in the laps of ratepayers.

PG&E gets clean energy from 2.8 gigawatts of solar, wind, geothermal and bio-gas plants that are operational today — enough to power close to 1 million homes. Twenty-two contracts that would have brought online an additional 2.2 gigawatts of renewable power have dissolved for myriad reasons, according to data filed with the California Public Utilities Commission. Those reasons include permitting problems, environmental concerns and companies going out of business, said Aaron Johnson, PG&E’s director of renewable energy policy and strategy.

Read more in the San Francisco Business Times.