Credit: East Bay Community Energy

The new facility represents a $20 million investment into Alameda County through tax revenue to support public services and will also sustain numerous clean energy jobs across operations and maintenance, following an initial output of more than 115,000 hours of union labor.

“The ribbon-cutting at Altamont today underscores what we can accomplish when community organizations have a voice in the development process of our clean energy choices,” said Corina Lopez, board vice-chair at EBCE and city council member for San Leandro. “We look forward to meeting our goal of providing all our customers with 100% clean energy by 2030, well ahead of California’s official 2045 target date.”

EBCE’s new project honors Scott Haggerty, a 20-year advocate for Alameda County, and replaces 569 100-kW turbines with 23 state-of-the-art environmentally and wildlife-friendly turbines.

“The re-powering of the Altamont wind project has greatly improved environmental impact while meeting the county’s need for clean, affordable wind power,” said Mehul Mehta, executive VP with Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company. “With this project, now the largest wind asset in Greenbacker’s portfolio, we look forward to partnering with EBCE to expand access to renewable energy for the communities and stakeholders within Alameda County for decades to come.”

The clean electricity created from the new turbines will serve as a primary supply source for EBCE’s Renewable 100 program, a power mix of wind and solar energy servicing about 100,000 customers.

“In just a few years, we’ve made great strides in bringing more affordable renewable energy and reinvesting our earnings back into the community to drive local green jobs, valuable programs and more clean power projects,” said Nick Chaset, CEO of East Bay Community Energy.

News item from East Bay Community Energy

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The Summit Wind Project in Altamont Pass (near Livermore, CA) is located within EBCE’s territory, and reflects the community choice provider’s commitment to invest in local, wind energy and deliver its local benefits.

The East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) board of directors approved two power purchase agreements for a combined 157.5 MW from new wind and solar facilities, as well as 30 MW of battery energy storage. EBCE is a Community Choice Energy provider that serves most of Alameda County and is committed to increasing clean power within its local communities.

The EBCE board approved the following contracts:

• Summit Wind Project: 20-year agreement to purchase 57.5 MW of wind energy from the Altamont Winds LLC project, near Livermore in Alameda County, from San Diego-based Salka LLC (in partnership with a global private equity firm)
• Sonrisa Solar Park: 20-year agreement to purchase 100 MW of solar energy and 30 MW of energy storage from the Sonrisa Solar Park in Fresno County, owned and will be operated by EDP Renewables North America.

“More and more, communities want to aggressively address climate change and reducing the use of fossil fuels in our power mix is a big part of that. EBCE is adding new renewable energy generation capacity to the grid that will, in time, serve to phase out our reliance on fossil fuel while also stabilizing our energy costs,” said County Supervisor and EBCE Board Chair, Scott Haggerty.

The Summit Wind Project located in Altamont Pass near Livermore is located within EBCE’s territory and reflects the community choice provider’s commitment to invest in local, clean energy resources and deliver local benefits. The project will entail repowering (replacing) a former Altamont Pass wind farm, which consisted of older less efficient wind turbines with ones that are state-of-the-art.

“The environmental and the economic benefits of wind energy have become evident to communities in California and across the country,” said Salka Chief Executive Officer Jiddu Tapia. “With no fuel costs and low operating expenses, wind power helps to reduce electricity costs, giving consumers a better choice for their energy dollar. Clean energy projects like this create local jobs and spur local investment while providing an affordable, dependable way for EBCE to meet its expanding power needs for years to come.”

Completion and operation of the Summit Wind Project is planned for late 2020. The repowering project will replace 569 one-hundred-kilowatt turbines with 23 modern turbines. Once completed, the repowered wind farm will generate more than 60% of its power for Alameda County during peak hours, including the afternoon and high-demand summer months, producing enough clean energy on average to power about 30,000 homes per year.

Construction on the Sonrisa Project will begin as early as December 2021 and be operational in 2022. Both contracts are a result of a competitive solicitation and review process that was initiated in 2018.

The board’s approval of the two power purchase agreements (PPAs) brings the total tally of long-term contracts approved by EBCE this month to four. On June 5, the board approved a contract with Vistra Energy to receive resource adequacy capacity from a 20-MW battery energy storage project that is currently planned to be built as a partial replacement for an aging, fossil fuel-fired power plant located in the heart of Oakland.

All told, EBCE has this month approved contracts totaling 213.5 MW with new California-based renewable energy facilities and 50 MW of energy storage, delivering on its commitment to drive the development of new clean energy resources and green jobs in Alameda County and beyond, and to address climate change by reducing energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.

EBCE initiated service in June 2018 and is one of 19 community choice aggregation (CCA) programs operating in California.

“The agency’s ability to contract for new renewable energy projects so soon after launch is an achievement for the agency and shows the strength of CCA programs throughout the state in furthering and expediting the climate action goals of their communities and those of California,” said Beth Vaughan, executive director of the California Community Choice Association.

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