Southern California Edison, a utility arm of Edison International (EIX.N), has signed contracts to buy up to 960 megawatts of power from wind and solar energy suppliers, SCE said on Wednesday.
The contracts are part of California's shift toward renewable energy sources to reduce dependence on fossil fuels that are blamed for contributing to climate change.
SCE said it has two contracts with Solar Millennium for up to 726 MW of electricity from solar thermal plants to be built in Blythe and Ridgecrest, California. The plants are scheduled to begin operations in 2013 and 2014.
Financial details of the contracts were not released.
In February, SCE, which said it delivered 65 percent of the nation's solar energy in 2008, said it had signed contracts with Brightsource Energy to buy 1,300 MW of electricity from new solar thermal plants.
Solar thermal power plants use the sun's heat to create steam that powers an electricity-producing turbine. The thermal plants are typically much larger than plants made up of photovoltaic solar panels, which turn sunlight into electricity.
