North Bay Business Journal

NORTH BAY — Legislation has been introduced that could significantly help grape growers and other farmers in the region utilize an additional resource for securing water during the dry season.

Assembly Bill 1200, introduced by Mark Levine (D-San Rafael) and sponsored by the Sonoma County Water Agency, would establish a pilot project that would permit the agency to study the impacts of using recycled rain water for use in watering crops.

Amy Bolten is public information officer for the Energy Resources Group of Sonoma County Water Agency.

She is set to speak on projects related to the water agency and the proposed Sonoma Clean Power program at Construction Conference 2013, hosted by the Business Journal in Santa Rosa on May 15.

Ms. Bolten and SCEIP manager Jane Elias, a 14-year veteran of green building and energy, spoke with the Journal about construction activity generated by these agencies and programs.

One of the catalysts for investigating Sonoma Clean Power is the potential for economic development benefits of developing locally owned and controlled electricity generation assets. With its goal to purchase 33 percent renewable energy at program launch and ramping up to 50 percent renewable energy by 2018, Sonoma Clean Power would provide a stable market for sellers of renewable energy. This market and ability to sign long-term contracts for the purchase of renewable electricity will stimulate local development of clean power projects. Projects could include solar systems on warehouse roofs, small wind farms or biogas digesters using waste from food processors and wineries.

Sonoma Clean Power is a community choice aggregation program being developed by the Sonoma County Water Agency to purchase electricity for Sonoma County customers. This program has multiple benefits and risks, is complex and not well understood by Sonoma County residents and businesses. In order to help the North Bay Business Journal readers understand the various aspects of Sonoma Clean Power, the Journal is partnering with the Sonoma County Water Agency to publish a series of articles discussing the various aspects of this effort. This article, the sixth in the series, discusses the potential risks and benefits of developing a community choice aggregation program in Sonoma County.

SONOMA COUNTY — A number of large Sonoma County nonprofits and public agencies have expressed interest in a new energy efficiency upgrade program being developed under the Sonoma County Water Agency, hoping to use its unique financing structure to upgrade aging facilities, realize immediate gains through lower maintenance costs and ultimately lower costs for energy use.

Sonoma Clean Power is a program being developed by the Sonoma County Water Agency to purchase electricity for Sonoma County customers. This program has multiple benefits and risks, is complex and not well understood by Sonoma County residents and businesses. In order to help the North Bay Business Journal readers understand the various aspects of Sonoma Clean Power, the Journal is partnering with the Sonoma County Water Agency to publish a series of articles discussing the various aspects of this effort. This article, the fifth in the series, discusses the goals of Sonoma Clean Power.

More than an environmentally friendly gesture, an increasing number of North Bay businesses are pursuing renewable energy development as a way to reduce costs and improve their bottom line.

Sonoma Clean Power is a program being developed by the Sonoma County Water Agency to purchase electricity for Sonoma County customers.

This program has multiple benefits and risks, is complex and not well-understood by Sonoma County residents and businesses.

In order to help the North Bay Business Journal readers understand the various aspects of Sonoma Clean Power, the Journal is partnering with the Sonoma County Water Agency to publish a series of articles discussing the various aspects of this effort.

SONOMA COUNTY — In an effort to determine the specific rates that customers would pay under the proposed power agency known as Sonoma Clean Power, planners have proposed forming an initial governing authority between the County of Sonoma and the Sonoma County Water Agency.

SONOMA COUNTY — In an effort closely watched by school, government and nonprofit groups around the state, the Sonoma County Water Agency is working to launch a first-in-California bond financing program that will allow millions of dollars in energy efficiency upgrades to schools and other public facilities at a time of intense budgetary rationing.

The Sonoma County Energy Independence Program provides financing for permanent energy efficiency upgrades to a property through a voluntary assessment on the property itself. A number of significant projects have found financing through the program, including a $1.6 million solar array at Sonoma Mountain Village in Rohnert Park.  The program is the subject of a [...]

Plans to develop a “community choice aggregation” power agency in Sonoma County have advanced over the past few months, with outreach to the region’s residents and municipal governments laying the groundwork for a joint powers authority to govern the so-called “Sonoma Clean Power.”

Tasked by its board of directors to develop the proposal, the Sonoma County Water Agency began work in 2011 to hone the finer details of a renewable energy-focused power agency in the county. Cordel Stillman, deputy chief engineer at the Sonoma County Water Agency, heads the effort.

As home to the largest complex of geothermal plants in the world and a continuing effort to establish a renewable energy-focused power agency, Sonoma County and its energy future will take center stage at North Bay Business Journal’s annual Impact Sonoma Conference on, Oct. 18.

SANTA ROSA — updated 1:54 p.m. — The operations and maintenance facility for Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit will be located at a site near the Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport, the transit authority announced today.

SANTA ROSA – The Sonoma County Water Agency Board of Directors voted today to approve funding for the development of a comprehensive business plan for a renewable energy-focused power agency in Sonoma County known as “Sonoma Clean Power.”

SANTA ROSA — Thanks to the “March miracle” rainfall, Russian River water supply conditions on April 1 will change from “critical” to “normal” under the Sonoma County Water Agency’s water rights permits and State Water Resource Control Board Decision 1610.

SANTA ROSA — A survey of Sonoma County residents found strong support for clean-energy options, including solar and wind power, and for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Russian River water supply conditions changed to “critical” today under the Sonoma County Water Agency’s water rights permits and State Water Resource Control Board’s Decision 1610. This “critical” designation means the water agency is permitted to reduce Russian River flows to preserve water storage in Lake Mendocino so there is enough for all water users and for release in the fall to support migrating Russian River Chinook salmon, listed as threatened on the Federal Endangered Species List.

NOVATO — North Bay Water Reuse Authority is on track to receive a $2 million state grant, as part of the San Francisco Bay Area Clean Water Agencies being awarded their full grant request of $30.1 million.

SANTA ROSA — The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, acting as the board for the Sonoma County Water Agency, today approved an energy purchase agreement and land lease for a 1.4-megawatt biogas plant to be built near Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport.