California looks to green energy future

SACRAMENTO, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- California aims to expand its renewable energy portfolio by building new transmission lines "as quickly as possible," Gov. Jerry Brown said.

Brown signed an agreement with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to expand a bilateral partnership for utility-scale renewable energy projects in California. The revised agreement includes electricity transmission projects in the partnership and invites more state authorities into the arrangement.

"California has made tremendous progress in permitting renewable projects and now we need to make sure the transmission lines that deliver this clean energy are built as quickly as possible," Brown said in a statement.

Brown last year signed a measure that calls for renewable energy to meet 33 percent of retail electricity sales by 2020.

Salazar last month approved a solar power project for California that could generate as much as $30 million in tax revenue for the state.

"What's happening in California is nothing short of a revolution -- clean energy is creating jobs, powering our economies, and making believers out skeptics," Salazar said in a statement.