Paul Thompsen, the current president of GEA and the director of
policy and business development at Reno-based Ormat Technologies
suggested that one reason the flow of PPAs has dried up in California is
that many utilities are now comfortable that they will be able hit the
state's 33 percent renewable energy portfolio standard target, and thus
have cut back on contracting for renewable power, and particularly for
geothermal energy. Another perhaps more crucial reason, he suggested, is
that utilities in the state have been focusing on forging renewable
energy PPAs at the lowest cost per kilowatt-hour -- like those provided
by wind and solar photovoltaics plants – without taking into account the
fact that their intermittent nature necessitates development of other
forms of power for times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t
blow. Hence, there is insufficient focus on the real cost of
integrating wind and solar resources to the grid.