Energy
Marin Energy Authority, which administers Marin Clean Energy, has signed a power purchase agreement with Calpine Energy Services for 10 megawatts of geothermal power served from The Geysers in Sonoma and Lake counties. Calpine’s proposal ranked highest among all open season proposals received by MEA based upon five primary criteria: location, portfolio fit, project viability, counterparty strength, and contract terms. The authority received 135 project proposals for California renewable energy in response to its annual Open Season Procurement process. Calpine’s Geysers supply California with approximately 18 percent of the state’s annual renewable energy. This power purchase agreement includes a competitive, fixed price throughout the term, helping the authority maintain competitive rates for its customers. It includes a short-term 3-megawatt contract for 2014 as well as a long-term 10-megawatt contract for 10 years starting in January of 2017. The two contracts will deliver more than 900,000 megawatt-hours and enough to power 13,600 homes.Marketing
Veale Outdoor Advertising has partnered with the city of Rohnert Park to build a state-of-the-art digital display, the first of its kind in Sonoma County. The 14-foot-by-48-foot digital display will reach over five million vehicles a month, and is slated to begin operating on September 1, 2013. The new digital display will be located on the US 101 between Rohnert Park Expressway and Golf Course Drive, reaching northbound drivers on their way to wine country, and southbound drivers traveling to Petaluma, Marin County, San Francisco, and beyond. The digital display utilizes new technology that offers advertisers a unique way to meet the needs of their consumer and the marketplace. By allowing advertisers to adjust and customize their message in real-time, they have the ability to adapt their message to showcase new products, upcoming events, and limited-time offers.Government
Southern Sonoma and Sotoyome resource conservation districts merged to become the Sonoma Resource Conservation District. The organizations have been assisting landowners since the 1940’s identify local conservation problems and guiding solutions from focused stream enhancement efforts, developing best management practices for rural lands to watershed enhancement plans. Sonoma RCD is a non-regulatory, local, special district.
Sonoma County Water Agency received a $158,000 grant from the Department of Water Resources to support the continued implementation of the Sonoma Valley Groundwater Management Program. The grant will fund the construction of groundwater monitoring wells to evaluate the feasibility of techniques to recharge underground aquifers with wintertime Russian River water and local stormwater in Sonoma Valley. The water agency is one of 26 applicants who will receive funding from the department, through the Local Groundwater Assistance Program. The groundwater program is funded through Proposition 84, commonly known as the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors awarded a $6,500 grant to the Windsor Fire Protection District to purchase a quick attack swift water rescue boat. The grant award will help the district establish a water rescue program. The Fire Protection District has about eight miles of heavily traveled Russian River running through its territory plus small lakes located at Riverfront Regional Park. In the summer of 2012, the district responded to several actual and potential water rescue situations along the river and at the park. The boat will be a strategic component of the new Water Rescue Program.
