Sonoma Clean Power Inks Deal
for 30 MW Solar Project
Solar facility to provide sufficient supply for 9,000 homes
Sonoma Clean Power (SCP), Sonoma County’s new electricity supplier, signed an agreement today with leading North American solar project developer Recurrent Energy, to construct 30 megawatts (MW) of solar power in California, and to supply the energy to SCP customers.
“This 20-year deal secures pricing that helps Sonoma Clean Power maintain its low costs and deliver further reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” offered Supervisor Susan Gorin, Chair of the SCP Board of Directors.
Power from the new solar facility, located in the Central Valley, will be sufficient to supply 9,000 homes starting in late 2016 when construction is completed. The project will be constructed under a project labor agreement.
“The cost of this power is lower than any of our current contracts for renewable energy – helping to make room in the budget to support investments into local Sonoma County projects,” said Sonoma Clean Power’s CEO, Geof Syphers. “Early work on local power includes an existing deal for a similar amount of power from Calpine’s Geysers geothermal facility, a proposed feed-in tariff program for larger customers wanting to sell power, and improvements to the existing net metering program for solar customers,” Syphers added.
The Sonoma County Water Agency also solicited proposals this month for installing floating solar onto treated wastewater ponds with the hope of selling the power to SCP if the price is right.
Sonoma Clean Power currently offers two service options to customers: CleanStart saves customers 4 to 5% on their electricity bills and cuts emissions by 30 percent, and a premium service called EverGreen that is 100 percent renewable power produced in Sonoma County for about 20 percent more than CleanStart costs.
Remaining residents of participating cities in Sonoma County will be given the opportunity to participate in Sonoma Clean Power starting in 2015.
Sonoma Clean Power began providing electricity service to the first phase of customers in the cities of Sonoma, Santa Rosa, Cotati, Windsor, and Sebastopol, and in the unincorporated areas of the county in May 2014.
For more information, visit sonomacleanpower.org or call 1 (855) 202-2139.
