CPS Energy has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with solar development company Tessera Solar to develop a 27 MW solar project in West Texas.

The PPA with San Antonio’s CPS Energy is the first Texas project for Tessera Solar and will complement the company’s 1,500 MW of California projects in Imperial Valley and the Mojave Desert. CPS Energy is the nation’s largest municipally owned energy company providing both natural gas and electric service. Last year, it had decided to pursue up to 100 MW of resource capacity from solar energy.

The project known as Western Ranch will feature the SunCatcher power system manufactured by Tessera Solar’s sister company, Stirling Energy Systems (SES). Phoenix-based SES had launched Tessera Solar earlier this year.

The project is expected to break ground in Summer 2010, assuming timely completion of regulatory approvals, with the first units expected to come online by the end of 2010. Western Ranch Solar is expected to be one of the first utility-scale solar projects built in Texas and can be expanded to as much as 130MW.

Read more: utility-scale solar, Mojave Desert