SALON

Wednesday, Jan 2, 2013 8:00 PM UTC

MidAmerican to buy 2 Calif. Solar power projects

By

Topics: From the Wires,

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — MidAmerican Energy is buying two solar power projects under construction in Southern California from SunPower Corp. that will generate 579 megawatts of electricity.

MidAmerican said Wednesday that it agreed to pay between $2 billion and $2.5 billion for the projects, to be completed in 2015.

MidAmerican said the Antelope Valley Solar Projects will provide power to Southern California Edison. The projects are expected to employ 650 people during construction.

MidAmerican — which is part of Warren Buffett’s Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. — set up its renewable power subsidiary a year ago. Since then it has bought a portfolio of 1,830 megawatts of wind, geothermal, solar and hydro power production.

That includes a deal last fall to buy two California wind farms north of Los Angeles that can generate 300 megawatts of peak electric capacity, and the 550-megawatt Topaz solar farm in San Luis Obispo County, Calif.

The power generated by these projects is sold to utilities in the open market and doesn’t go to MidAmerican Energy or its PacifiCorp utility that serves several western states, said spokeswoman Ann Thelen, who is based at MidAmerican’s headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa.

Thelen said MidAmerican may continue buying renewable energy projects if they’re attractive and fit with the company’s environmental goals.

“We’re open for business and continuing to look at prospects that are a good fit for the organization,” Thelen said.

The market for renewable energy is especially promising in California because the state set an ambitious goal to have one-third of its electricity derived from renewable sources by 2020.

Southern California Edison’s Nicole Neeman Brady said the MidAmerican development will help the utility meet California’s renewable energy goals.

SunPower operates more than 1,000 megawatts of solar power plants globally. Its shares rose 54 cents, or 9.6 percent, to $6.16 in afternoon trading.

___

Follow Josh Funk online at www.twitter.com/funkwrite

___

Online:

MidAmerican Renewables: www.midamericanrenewablesllc.com

SunPower: www.sunpowercorp.com

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: www.berkshirehathaway.com

More By Josh Funk.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations