Pacific Gas and Electric has signed a deal with Iberdrola Renewables to buy a 246-megawatt wind farm once it's built in Southern California.

If the deal goes through as planned, PG&E will own its first-ever wind farm, the San Francisco-based utility said.

The passage of an energy bill that allows utilities to get a 30 percent investment tax credit starting this year has made owning renewable power plants attractive to utilities across the country.

Earlier this year, PG&E announced it would develop and own 250 megawatts of solar power projects. Southern California Edison and Duke Energy in North Carolina all have similar plans under development.

The wind farm, called the Manzana project, would rise from eastern Kern County. It's scheduled to start delivering electricity by December 2011, PG&E said. The wind farm could produce up to 670 gigawatt hours per year. The delivery date would allow PG&E to count the project toward meeting the state mandate of having 20 percent of the electricity from renewable sources by 2010. The state gives utilities essentially a three-year grace period beyond 2010 to procure enough power to meet the requirement.  

The project would cost an estimated $900 million, which would include not only fees to Iberdrola but also other costs, the utility said.

PG&E customers would see their rates increase by 1.1 percent in 2012, compared with this year's rates.