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MEMORANDUM
TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Rob Brown, District 5 Supervisor
DATE: April 4, 2017
SUBJECT: Consideration of Letter of Support for Assembly Bill (AB) 920 (Aguiar-Curry)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The State of California, a leader in the use of renewable energy, set its Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in 2002. The RPS has very successfully encouraged more wind and solar energy, but constant output, baseload, renewable resources such as geothermal has not grown.
The Geysers, a baseload renewable resource located in Lake and Sonoma Counties, is one of the world’s largest geothermal resources. While not infinite, there are opportunities for some new energy at The Geysers. More importantly, the existing energy currently being generated must secure long-term, sustainable contracts to continue operating.
Calpine has a 250 Megawatt (MW) contract coming off contract at the end of 2021. In order to preserve the over 300 full-time and hundreds of contracting jobs that we support with our annual $50 -$70 million a year spend on operations and maintenance as well as associated local benefits, Calpine must continue to contract all our Geysers power. We believe AB 920 will help.
FISCAL IMPACT: X_ None __Budgeted __Non-Budgeted
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FISCAL IMPACT (Narrative): None
STAFFING IMPACT (if applicable): None
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
We recommend approval of the letter supporting Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry in her efforts to ensure California meets RPS requirements, and to reinforce the critical role of baseload renewable resources, such as geothermal, through passage of AB 920; and authorize the Chair to sign.