Power ( 8
N O RT H BAY B O H E M I A N | JU LY 9 -1 5, 2 0 14 | B O H E M I A N.COM
10
SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE presents
BROADWAY IN BURBANK
PRESENTING FIVE SHOWS IN COMPLETE ROTATING REPERTORY
JUNE 20 – AUGUST 9, 2014
2014 SEASON:
A CHORUS LINE THE ODD COUPLE BY NEIL SIMON LA CAGE AUX FOLLES NOËL COWARD’S PRESENT LAUGHTER 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL FOR INFO AND TICKETS: 707-527-4307
www.SummerRep.com
• 3D Printers featuring the Metal Simple from PrintrBot • The highest quality filament • Tools, accessories, parts and Arduino boards
3D PRINTING 3D printing services, support, training and design consulting
at the Sebastopol Radioshack
564 Gravenstein Hwy N 707.823.8320
Your vision… my resources, dedication and integrity… Together, we can catch your dream.
Realtor Coldwell Banker
Suzanne Wandrei
cell: 707.292.9414 www.suzannewandrei.com
Eco Green Certified
public utilities. The legislation, approved by lawmakers in 2001, allows localities such as Sonoma County to create its own utilities. Big Energy fought against the portion of the law that automatically signed customers up for the new utility, known as the “opt-out” option. But PG&E failed to get lawmakers to pass an “opt-in” amendment. It’s been a busy time for SCP. It made geothermal deals in recent months with the bigindustry likes of Calpine and Constellation/Exelon in the Geysers. On the solar front, Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of the Sharp Corp., will provide solar power from an as-yet-unbuilt array in Fresno County. How will the feed-in tariff work? The utility has $600,000 “for purchasing new, local renewable electricity from entities that enter into a wholesale power purchase agreement,” says Sonoma Clean Power feed-in tariff program manager Amy Rider. “The proposed feed-in tariff allows for as few as three applicants to participate,” she says. “The smaller the projects, the more that can participate.” The criteria for selection, says Rider, include a demonstration by applicants that “an interconnection agreement with the grid operator [e.g., PG&E] is in progress.” Applicants have to be able to provide wholesale power to the SCP mix. The state set a standard in 2013 for fuels that can count toward that 33 percent renewable goal: biomass, landfill gas, ocean thermal and tidal currents, small hydroelectric plants, wave power, solar photovoltaic, biodiesel, wind and solar thermal. The Sonoma County Water Agency tried to get wave power going in the county, but permits were yanked by the feds in 2011. The following year, the water agency’s board of directors moved to create Sonoma Clean Power under the CCA law passed in the wake of the 2001 statewide
brownouts. The power company serves all towns and cities in Sonoma County except Rohnert Park, Petaluma, Cloverdale and Healdsburg.
Applicants will help fulfill a statemandated goal that requires utilities to provide 33 percent renewable energy by 2020. “There are several types of renewable-generation technologies allowed by our feed-in tariff program that are unlikely to participate due to long development lead times,” says Rider. “However, we allow for them within the program to maximize participant flexibility.” The water agency already has a couple of renewable-fuel projects in its portfolio. In 2011, the agency contracted with a company called OHR Biostar to build a chickeneffluvia “farm to fuel” biogas converter at its wastewater plant on Aviation Boulevard. The agency also utilizes energy from the Petaluma biogas filtration plant, at the county-run landfill. Those projects now send power to the PG&E grid and fuel for county vehicles. But all signs lead to an emphasis on solar energy to maximize the feed-in tariff renewables, a refrain repeated in online public comments on the SCP site and, notably, by the chair of Sonoma Clean Power’s board of directors, Susan Gorin. “We look forward to the development of new Sonoma County solar that Sonoma Clean Power’s feed-in tariff will facilitate,” says Gorin via email.
DEBRIEFER
(8
keep the pressure on until one of them does. “We want the Department of Justice to look at this,” says Moore. —Tom Gogola
Play It, Schroeder After the idea was suggested almost 20 years ago, the Green Music Center will become a reality with the opening of Schroeder Hall. “Everything on site is now 100 percent complete,” says GMC spokeswoman Jessica Anderson. The exterior of the 250-seat performance center has been complete since before the 1,400seat main hall was built, though the interior required about $5 million to finish when the main hall opened two years ago. “I think we all would have liked to have seen it completed sooner,” says Anderson, who suggests that a sluggish economy slowed down donations to the project. The hall will mostly be used for music education, says GMC co-executive director Zarin Mehta, who has booked a strong lineup for the Aug. 22–24 opening. Pianist David Benoit, known for his recordings from the Peanuts music library, will perform a private show Friday night for major donors that include Jeanie Schulz, widow of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz (the hall is named after the Beethoven-obsessed character from the comic strip). Joining Benoit through the weekend are pianist Jeffrey Kahane, organist James David Christie with soprano Ruth Ann Swenson, and others. Green Music Center will also feature a “Sundays at Schroeder” event with up-and-coming musicians. “I want to develop an audience and see what kind of music suits the acoustics best,” says Mehta.—Nicolas Grizzle