BEIJING, Aug. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Two companies will build "milestone" solar power plants in Central California, according to media reports Thursday.

The plants will cover a total of some 32.5 square km (12.5 square miles) with solar panels and generate 800 megawatts of power during the middle of a sunny day, according to media reports Thursday.

Pacific Gas & Electric, which is under a state mandate to obtain 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010, will purchase the power.

"These market-leading projects we have in California are something that can be extrapolated around the world," Jennifer Zerwer, a spokeswoman for the utility, said.

OptiSolar and SunPower Corporation will combine forces to construct the solar power plants at two different sites in San Luis Obispo County.

OptiSolar has just begun making a type of solar panel with a thin film of active material, while SunPower uses a silicon-crystal technology. OptiSolar's site will produce 550 megawatts of electricity; SunPower will produce an additional 250 megawatts.

Thomas H. Werner, the chairman of Sunpower, said that the 250 megawatts his company would build was as much solar photovoltaic capacity as was installed worldwide last year.

The 800 megawatts generated by the new plants will greatly exceed the scale of previous solar installations. The largest photovoltaic installation in the United States, 14 megawatts, is at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, using SunPower panels.

Spain has a 23-megawatt plant, and Germany is building one of 40 megawatts. A recently constructed plant that uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight, called Nevada Solar One, can produce 64 megawatts of power.
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