Green Energy Reporter

NRG Energy, one of the country’s largest coal users,  signed a deal on Monday with eSolar to develop solar power plants in California and the Southwest.

As part of the agreement Princeton, N.J.-based, NRG  will invest $10 million in eSolar for the right to use the startup’s technology to develop and operate three solar power projects that combined are set to generate 500 megawatts of clean electricity.

Citing a Fortune Magazine article, Green Wombat writes that NRG ranks as one of the nation’s dirtiest utilities, emitting 70 million tons of CO2  annually from its coal-fired power plants.

In the past year eSolar, founded by Idealab’s Bill Gross, has scored a $130m financing from Google and inked a 20-year power purchase agreement with Southern California Edison (SoCalEd) for 245 MW of green electricity annually.

Earlier this month another Google-backed developer, BrightSource Energy, signed a  20-year purchase agreement with SoCalEd for 1,300 MW of clean electricity to be generated by seven, yet to be constructed, power plants.

“By coupling NRG’s construction capabilities and regional operating expertise with eSolar’s innovative CSP technology, we can advance NRG’s renewable energy portfolio while helping to accelerate development of these important projects on a commercial scale,” said NRG executive Michael Liebelson in a statement.