Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
Utility cancels contract for Tessera’s Calico solar project
NTR’s Tessera Solar has suffered a major setback with the loss of a 663.5-megawatt power purchase agreement with utility Southern California Edison for its Calico solar power plant project.
The abrupt cancellation of the five-year-old contract comes just eight weeks after California and federal officials approved Calico, which they put on a fast track so Tessera could qualify for lucrative government incentives for large-scale renewable energy projects.
Neither the utility nor Tessera would comment on the reasons for scrapping the 20-year power purchase agreement, citing confidentiality provisions. Signed in August 2005, it was one of the largest contracts for electricity to be generated by a single solar thermal power plant.
Southern California Edison notified the California Public Utilities Commission in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it had terminated the power purchase agreement, or PPA, with Tessera.
