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MEMORANDUM
TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Rob Brown, District 5 Supervisor
DATE: April 11, 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, also known as 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 new energy at The Geysers. More importantly, 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 Calpine supports with their annual $50 -$70 million a year spend on operations and maintenance, as well as associated local benefits, Calpine must continue to contract all of their Geysers’ power, and they believe AB 920 will help.
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
I recommend approval of the attached letter supporting Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry’s efforts through AB 920, as presently written, to reinforce the critical role of constant output resources, such as geothermal, in meeting California’s renewable energy goals.