Southern California Edison and BrightSource Energy have agreed on a series of contracts for 1,300 megawatts of clean solar thermal power ― enough to serve nearly 845,000 homes. The first of these solar power plants, sized at 100 megawatts and located in Ivanpah, Calif., could be operating in early 2013 and is expected to produce 286,000 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year.

The agreement requires approval from the California Public Utilities Commission. BrightSource will build and place in commercial operation each of its plants as quickly as permitting and infrastructure allow. According to the company, the full 1,300 megawatts of projects will produce 3.7 billion kilowatt-hours of clean energy and avoid more than two million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually – the equivalent of removing more than 335,000 cars from the road.

Source: BrightSource Energy