Sempra Generation is making a big switch from traditional power generation methods to solar. The company has opened solar plants throughout California, Nevada and Arizona and received approval earlier this week to build another 200-megawatt photovoltaic solar facility north of Los Angeles.

Sempra doesn’t expect to break ground on the new plant until 2012 because the company is still shopping the project around to utility companies in California, Sempra spokesman Scott Crider said.

The Kern County board of supervisors approved the project on Nov. 9.

While the project is a massive one, expected to generate enough electricity to power 76,000 California homes, it’s not Sempra’s only solar project. In fact it’s not even the company’s biggest solar project.

Sempra is currently building a 58-megawatt project in Nevada and breaks ground soon on the first 150-megawatt phase of a 600-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant in Arizona, Crider said.

Those projects are just a few among many the company has launched since it decided to focus on solar power generation in 2008.

“We’ve been aggressively moving into solar,” Crider said. “There’s a strong market for it, especially in California.”

He said solar serves utilities well because it typically peaks when energy use peaks

“And PV because it doesn’t use water,” Crider said. “If sustainability is the goal, we want to make sure we’re not using a lot of water in the desert.”

Most of the projects Sempra is undertaking are being built in sandy desert areas, some on public lands and some on dry sun-scorched swaths of previously disturbed farm land like the planned development north of L.A., Crider said.

Construction crews will use water when they’re building the projects, but water will otherwise never enter the equation. Crider said.

Crider said the solar push is coming primarily from a demand in California for clean energy. The state has pledged to get a third of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 and has implemented some big incentives to go green and penalties for big companies that don’t transition to renewable energy sources.

Sempra has long had a presence in California, Crider said.

“This is a market we know,” he said. “Even the power in Arizona and Nevada can be delivered directly to California.”

Pictured: An example of what it looks like when Sempra "goes big."