On Jan. 10, Southern California Edison (SCE) said it reached agreements with SunPower, Corp. (Nasdaq:SPWRB) and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, Inc. to purchase 831 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic generation from the two companies.

SunPower will provide the bulk of the electricity through three installations, totaling 711 MW, and Fotowatio will provide 120 MW of electricity through 4 installations.

The news comes shortly after SCE, a subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), cancelled a power-purchase agreement for what was Tessera’s proposed 850 MW Calico Solar Project (It was purchased by K Road Solar last week).

However, Mike Marelli, director of renewable contract origination at SCE, said the new contracts and the Tessera cancellation were not related.

“This is the result of our 2009 solicitation, where we went to the market and cast a wide net,” he said. “These [contracts] are the result of that effort.”

At this point, the projects are still pending approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.

“Each of the projects is in various stages of development,” Marelli said. “We have the easy part: We just do the contracting and let them figure it out.”

The first projects are expected to be completed in 2013, with some not seeing completion until 2016.

SunPower’s plants, which include a 32- MW solar farm, will start coming online while the company is still building out the capacity.

“To put in a 300-MW photovoltaic project is kind of a big thing,” he said.

Marelli observed that large PV installations go up at a rate of about 10 MWs to 15 MWs per month.

The first project expected to be complete is Fotowatio’s 20 MW Cygnus Solar farm, which is slated for completion on Sept. 30, 2013. The company expects to complete two other 20-MW farms and a 60-MW farm by Dec. 30, 2013, according to an SCE press release.

SunPower’s first solar farm under the contracts, a 110 MW farm in Los Banos, Calif., is slated for completion by Dec. 31, 2014. The rest of the generation, which consist of a 276-MW farm and a 325-MW farm, is slated for completion by Oct. 31, 2016. Both will be located in Rosamond, Calif.

Pictured:The Magascona and Magasquilla PV farms, courtesy of Fotowatio.