NOW Online "Sempra's Real Agenda- Updated"
See what is behind SEMPRA"S & SDG&E's wanting the Sunrise PowerLink.
 

"Building A Margin of Safety" into Renewable Energy Procurements:
A Review of Experience with Contract Failure.
Document provided by the CA Energy Commission

SDG&E can sign all the contracts for renewable energy it wants for the Sunrise Powerlink, but if that energy is not yet available, SDG&E will be able to fill the 500 kW Sunrise Powerlink with whatever other electricity is available (including from its parent Sempra's power plants south of the U.S.-Mexico border, which operate outside of U.S. or CA environmental protections).

The biggest contributor to the renewable energy contracts that SDG&E Sr. VP Jim Avery says he'll sign for the Sunrise Powerlink -- Stirling Solar -- currently only has a prototype facility of six units at a government energy lab. To get 900 MW for the Sunrise Powerlink, the company will have to finance, build, install, and maintain 36,000 units.  The CA Energy Commission expects the Stirling Solar facility near the Salton Sea to be operational in 2017; but SDG&E wants the Sunrise Powerlink operational by 2010.

Jan. 2006 Report Prepared for CA Energy Commission: "In implementing state renewables portfolio standards, utility purchasers and electricity regulators must confront the reality that signed renewable energy contracts will not always yield operational projects on the timeline given in the contracts themselves."  and
"... the data suggest that a minimum overall contract failure rate of 20 to 30 percent should generally be expected for large solicitations conducted over multiple years. Failure rates much higher than these levels are supported by historical experience. "

http://www.energy.ca.gov/2006publications/CEC-300-2006-004/CEC-300-2006-004.PDF