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New bill critical to unlocking advancement toward increased geothermal power generation

Mary Callahan, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The much-anticipated statute is the key to unlocking expanded development of clean, renewable geothermal energy in and around The Geysers, officials say.

An obscure state bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week could not seem less important. Or interesting.

Let’s be honest.

It describes how counties can now serve as lead agencies for environmental review of geothermal exploratory projects in California. Yawn.

But local officials say the much-anticipated statute is the key to unlocking expanded development of clean, renewable geothermal energy in and around The Geysers, advancing green energy goals here and across the West through more efficient and sustainable next-gen technologies that could be incubated here.

At stake is the chance for Sonoma Clean Power, the majority electrical supplier in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, to phase out remaining dependence on aged, highly polluting natural gas power plants that plug the supply gap when nightfall and unsuitable weather reduce availability of solar and wind power.

New geothermal energy approaches proposed for use in the Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino region could ensure a round-the-clock supply of renewable, 100% emission-free power for local consumers and for folks outside the area in the future, as well.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/geysers-geothermal-newsom-sonoma-clean-power/

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Sonoma Clean Power executes power purchase agreement with Luminia for 11.6 MW solar plus 8 MW energy storage project

BUSINESS WIRE

Project to reliably alleviate grid constraints and deliver clean, renewable energy to residents

SAN DIEGO & SANTA ROSA: Luminia and Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) announced today the signing of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the development of an 11.6 MW AC solar plus 32 MWh battery storage project in Sonoma, California. Construction of the 75-acre project is expected in the second half of 2023 in southern Sonoma County, tying into a nearby electrical substation.

“Deploying reliable solar and storage projects with community choice aggregators like Sonoma Clean Power reinforces renewable energy as the new standard in our daily energy lives,” said Dale A. Vander Woude, chief investment officer of Luminia. “We formed an excellent team with Kenwood Investments to provide Sonoma Clean Power with a solution for its resource adequacy demand, which is what brought this important project to fruition in Sonoma County.”

In addition to the PPA, Luminia and Kenwood Investments, LLC, are managing the late-stage development of the project. Once completed, SCP will dispatch the 100 percent renewable, locally generated electricity to its EverGreen premium service customers throughout Sonoma and Mendocino counties. The 11.6 MW AC solar PV system also includes 32 MWh of lithium-ion battery storage that can distribute stored solar power across the grid during peak evening hours.

Read more at https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220606005234/en/

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In this Nov. 12, 2020, file photo, traffic moves on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) Golden Gate Bridge tolls are going up in July. Here’s how much Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma counties considering big geothermal power expansion

Jeff Quackenbush, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

A plan to significantly expand geothermal electricity production in the North Bay — in a bid to create more 24/7 renewable production to ease California’s move into a zero-emissions energy over the next 24 years — is getting more buy-in from local officials.

The area already is home to the world’s largest geothermal power station, The Geysers, which produces almost half of California’s electricity production from that energy source, according to Calpine Corp., which runs most of the plants there. Now, Sonoma Clean Power, a community choice aggregation utility that serves upwards of 230,000 customers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, wants to nearly double that output.

It hopes to spur more investment in smaller-sized, low-water-usage plants, scattering them across much of Lake County and parts of Mendocino and Sonoma counties to bring power production closer to residential and business customers.

To accomplish the plan, Sonoma Clean Power is proposing a geothermal opportunity zone, or GeoZone. On Dec. 7, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to join the zone.

Read more at https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/article/north-bay-counties-consider-big-geothermal-power-expansion/

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As home pot growers left the region last year, Sonoma Clean Power lost $10 million in revenue

Julie Johnson, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

They’re called “superusers” within the power industry, those electricity customers using as much as 200 times the amount of energy in a month than a typical household.

Some of them have big estates, horse stables or electric cars. A small number are older mobile home parks operating on one utility meter. Most are likely growing marijuana indoors, local power agency officials said.

Last year, these “superuser” customers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties with monthly electric bills as high as $20,000 started to disappear.

About 300 homes using the most power in the region closed their accounts or dramatically decreased energy consumption in May and June of 2018, according to Sonoma Clean Power, the area’s green power agency. Although small in number, the loss of these major customers contributed to an unexpected $10 million drop in revenue and expenses last year, agency CEO Geof Syphers said.

After scrambling to figure out why these customers were disappearing, power agency officials determined they corresponded with a marked shift in where marijuana is and isn’t being grown in the region and state, he said.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/9453610-181/as-home-pot-growers-left

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Sonoma Clean Power partners with Stem to provide smart batteries for large businesses

Hannah Beausang, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Sonoma Clean Power is partnering with a provider of smart batteries to offer large commercial and industrial businesses the chance to save as much as 50 percent on their monthly energy bills.

The partnership with Millbrae-based Stem, announced Tuesday, will allow as many as 150 large business in Sonoma and Mendocino counties to install software-controlled batteries that provide power during peak demand times when electricity is most costly, account executive Nate Kinsey said.

Sonoma Clean Power, a public electricity provider serving about 220,000 customers in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, hopes at least 60 of those large companies will use the battery packs, which recharge at low-demand energy times.

The power company will conduct outreach to these businesses — considered “super users” of energy — to help them understand the potential savings. The process could take up to 13 months from initial contact to installation, Kinsey said.

Businesses pay a monthly service fee for the batteries, which are installed and owned by Stem and connected to the PG&E grid, said Sonoma Clean Power Program Manager Nelson Lomeli. Each customer can expect annual savings between $20,000 and $70,000, he said.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8657113-181/sonoma-clean-energy-partners-with

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Sonoma Clean Power offers incentives for customers to ‘drive electric’

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Sonoma Clean Power says cars burning gasoline locally emit 11,247 pounds of greenhouse gases a year. An electric vehicle charged up by power from PG&E emits 1,586 pounds a year.

On the local power agency’s default service, which gets 45 percent of its power from renewables, an EV releases 793 pounds a year.

On the Evergreen service, which gets half its power from The Geysers geothermal field and half from a Petaluma solar facility, an EV emits just 208 pounds of greenhouse gases a year.
From Carbon footprint for electric vehicles far smaller with renewable power

Eleanor Butchart of Santa Rosa is the proud owner of a Mercedes-Benz B250e, the last letter meaning electric.

The white compact hatchback is “fun to drive,” she said, seats four to five adults comfortably and has plenty of curb appeal. “It looks like a normal car,” she said, rather than a radically stylized EV or hybrid.

What it lacks is a tank for gasoline, which currently costs $3.70 a gallon in Santa Rosa, up 77 cents from a year ago. Butchart is planning to install solar panels at her home, reducing the cost of recharging.

Like all other Mercedes, the B250e she bought last year wasn’t cheap, but the price was eased by a $2,000 incentive Butchart obtained from Sonoma Clean Power, the public electricity provider serving Sonoma and Mendocino counties, along with a $500 rebate from PG&E.

“It was a sweet deal all around,” Butchart said.

The good deals for electric vehicles will be back on the table starting today, when Sonoma Clean Power launches its third and final Drive EV program, offering its customers incentives of up to $4,000 for the lease or purchase of 25 models of electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars sold by six local dealers.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8575429-181/sonoma-clean-power-offers-incentives

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Sonoma County solar power plant on wastewater ponds canceled

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A combination of factors, including President Donald Trump’s tariff on imported solar panels, have prompted cancellation of a major solar power project on six wastewater holding ponds in Sonoma County.

Sonoma Clean Power, the county’s public power supplier, also cited requirements by PG&E and the state Division of Safety of Dams as reasons for terminating a contract approved in 2015 for development of a 12.5-megawatt solar power system on the holding ponds owned by the Sonoma County Water Agency.

The developer, San Francisco-based Pristine Sun, missed its latest deadline to complete the project March 31, prompting Sonoma Clean Power to cancel the deal five days later, said Deb Emerson, the electricity provider’s director of power services.

Read more at http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8253476-181/sonoma-county-solar-power-plant

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New electric car for less than $10,000? Sonoma County makes it happen

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
How about a shiny new electric car for less than $10,000?
Price has long been a concern for motorists interested in ending their relationship with petroleum, and Sonoma Clean Power, the not-for-profit public electricity provider for Sonoma and Mendocino counties, is bringing the cost of electric vehicles down to clearance-sale levels.
The second year of the agency’s Drive EverGreen electric vehicle (EV) incentive program — on now through Oct. 31 — offers deals on nine models sold and leased by seven local dealers, ranging in base price from a $51,095 BMW i3 down to a Volkswagen e-Golf listed at $28,995.
The e-Golf, a hatchback with a 124-mile range, comes with a $7,000 dealer credit and a $2,000 Sonoma Clean Power incentive for the average utility customer, plus the possibility of a $2,500 state rebate and a $7,500 federal tax credit. The incentive package, which totals $19,000, slashes the price to $9,995.
“It’s a smokin’ deal,” said Cordel Stillman, director of programs for Sonoma Clean Power, which delivers electricity to 600,000 customers in the two North Bay counties.
But it can get even better for power customers who live in the Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District, which offers an additional $3,000 incentive in a parallel program called 3-2-1 Go Green. The district covers about 60,000 residents in western and northern Sonoma County.
For Sonoma Clean Power customers who qualify for all the incentives, including a full federal tax credit as well as low-income bonuses, the cost of the e-Golf sinks to $4,495.
Read more at: New electric car for less than $10,000? Sonoma County makes it happen | The Press Democrat

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State, North Coast oppose President Trump’s proposed climate-change pact pullout 

Paul Payne, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
As President Donald Trump weighed a possible withdrawal Wednesday from the Paris climate change agreement, California and especially North Coast leaders pushed back, citing the environmental and economic benefits of reducing greenhouses gases while warning of an uncertain future that would come from abandoning the accord.
Trump’s threat to unravel the 2015 pact, which committed nearly every country to take action to curb climate change, drew last-minute appeals from Silicon Valley executives such as Elon Musk of Tesla and Tim Cook of Apple. It also came as Bay Area air quality officials signaled their intent to place caps on oil refinery emissions blamed for pollution and respiratory health problems.
It was clear that although Trump might reverse course on the federal level, state and local players remained committed in their efforts to fight global warming.
“The White House may be going off in one direction to pull out of the Paris compact, but California is clearly going the other way,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane, a member of the regional air quality board that indicated at a meeting Wednesday it would put future limits on refineries. “We are going to continue to lead as we do now.”
Alternative energy advocates said the state is at the forefront of creating a future without fossil fuels. The booming solar and wind markets are cutting emissions and creating jobs. Electric vehicle charging stations are cropping up across the land.
And utilities such as Sonoma Clean Power, which now has $1 billion in clean energy contracts, are providing customer savings while reducing carbon output over competitors like PG&E.
Read more at: North Coast opposes President Trump’s proposed climate-change pact pullout | The Press Democrat

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Sonoma Clean Power adds wind to energy sourcing

Staff Report, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL
Sonoma Clean Power broke ground today on a project that will update an existing wind power facility and bring more wind power in-state. The Golden Hills North Wind Facility, in the western central valley community of Tracy, will remove 283 30-year-old wind turbines and replace them with 20 2.3-megawatt GE turbines, capable of generating more power with twice the efficiency of the previous wind project.
Sonoma Clean Power is a a community choice aggregation, or CCA, organization, created under state policy that allow local governments to pool their electricity load so they can provide alternative energy sources. Currently, most wind energy in SCP”s portfolio comes from Oregon. The Golden Hills facility is forecasted to cover 6 percent of SCP’s load starting in 2018. The contract term is 20 years from full commercial operation date.
“Repowered wind facilities carry multiple benefits,” said Geof Syphers, SCP’s CEO. “One modern wind turbine replaces 21 of the old-style turbines, producing more energy. This is low-cost, clean electricity that will serve our customers of Sonoma and Mendocino counties.”
SCP is partnering with wholesale electric power generator NextEra Energy Resources. An affiliate of that company owns and will operate the wind project.
The wind project will have a generating capacity of 46 megawatts, enough to power more than 13,500 homes.SCP’s announcement stated the project will also create hundreds of union jobs during the construction phase, beginning this month, and will provide full-time employment opportunities once the project is operational at the end of 2017. The project will provide more than $10 million in property tax benefits over its projected 30-year operational life.
Fewer wind turbines will also significantly reduces bird strikes.
Source: Sonoma Clean Power adds wind to energy sourcing | The North Bay Business Journal