By Jennifer Renewable Energy 0 Comments

Turlock-based solar company expanding quickly to meet demand

One of the nation’s fastest-growing solar energy companies has helped thousands across five different states make the switch to solar since it was founded in 2017, and its home office is right here in Turlock. Solar Energy Partners was first started four years ago by brothers Alex and Clint Williams along with Dave Madrid, who each had decades of experience in the solar industry already. The company offers a “white glove” service in researching, comparing, selecting and installing residential solar panels for customers, saving homeowners nearly $118 million since they first began.

SEP grew at an astounding rate of 500% during the pandemic, most recently announcing a merger with another solar company, The Standard — a move which will allow the company to expand its footprint into several other states in addition to those where they are already established, including California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Texas.  Though their corporate office is located in Turlock, SEP installs solar panels on homes whose owners are mainly Pacific Gas and Electric customers, Alex Williams said, as Turlock Irrigation District bills its customers for solar differently. TID customers with solar panels are billed according to a self-generation rate, which include time-of-use energy charges, whereas PG&E customers are able to see unused energy “rollover” to the next month.

In 2014, TID set a 5% cap for installed net metering meaning that once the limit was hit, new solar installations no longer qualified for the previous net metering program, which includes the opportunity to aggregate multiple solar systems or being netted on an annual basis.  “In Turlock, there are two groups of people who have solar,” Williams said. “They’re either in that original 5%, or they’re someone who wasn’t as worried about the economics of it and wanted solar so that they could be a part of the solution. Or, they’re just tech-savvy and want the latest solar technology. “Solar isn’t just the smarter way to do power financially for a lot of people, it’s the smarter way to do it period.”

As a result of the merger with The Standard, SEP now has 500 contractors throughout the five states where they operate, including California offices in Santa Rosa, San Jose, Stockton, Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego in addition to Turlock. Recent figures released by NASA show that 2020 came in close second to 2016 for the hottest year in recorded history, pushing 2019 to third place. With the increased heat has come increased solar popularity, both for energy cost savings as well as environmental purposes, Williams said.

The company is also constantly recruiting employees for its rapidly expanding business, with most making up to $100,000 per year according to Williams. Projections from Allied Market Research predict that the solar industry should reach $223.3 billion by 2026, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 20.5% from 2019 to 2026.

While most looking to switch to solar energy are hoping for quick savings, Williams encouraged them to look at the long-term picture. “If you switch to solar because you want your bill to be lower next month you might be disappointed, but if you look at it on a longer scale the savings are there,” Williams said, noting most solar panels last up to 30 years. “Of course, on the 30-year scale there’s still a huge economic benefit to it, but the reality is that going solar is just the right thing to do. “If everybody just did the right thing, what kind of world would we live in?”

https://www.turlockjournal.com/news/local/turlock-based-solar-company-expanding-quickly-meet-demand/

By Amanda Chandler Food Processing • Renewable Energy 0 Comments

How a Central California winery uses worms in wine production

Worms are helping a Valley winery on its path to becoming more green. Olympic-sized swimming pools at O’Neill Winery are actually beds filled with worms helping the company become greener. “Our technology at BioFiltro, what it is is the star of the show is the worm. Ultimately, the worms are known as an ecosystem or environmental engineers,” said Mai Ann Healy, BioFiltro spokesperson.

BioFiltro, an international company, was able to go through Fresno State’s Valley Ventures program that focuses on water, engineering and technology businesses. The worms are known for converting waste or organic matter. Water is spread across the worm beds and goes through levels of wood chips, river rocks, drainage cells and exit pipes. “So within four hours, our worms are getting fed, getting full and also producing more microbes and bacteria that’s furthering helping us reduce and convert waste into beneficial byproducts,” Healy said.

The technology allows the company to take about 80 million gallons of processed water and clean it. O’Neill Winery is the seventh-largest winery in California. They produce wines and spirits sold around the United States. “So what we are trying to do is provide a sustainable process so that we can have a facility that is environmentally stewards, that is reducing our carbon footprint, reducing/minimizing our waste,” said Phil Castro, senior director of winery operations. O’Neill said they’ve taken steps to be more green with solar energy and the BioFilitro system.

They’re able to save water and use that for crop irrigation and reduce the amount of water they use. “So we can ensure for generations to come that there’s water available to continue the great process of agriculture,” Castro said. A sustainable process and technology thriving here in the Valley.

https://abc30.com/wine-worms-wastewater-water-filtration/10540942/

By Amanda Chandler Renewable Energy 0 Comments

Renewable diesel revives refinery on Rosedale

A major industrial property that has sat idle for years in the heart of Bakersfield is coming back to life to refine used cooking oil, rendered animal fats and a canola-related grain called camelina. Torrance-based biofuels company Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc. is refurbishing equipment and ramping up hiring so by the end of this year it can fire up part of the former Big West refinery on Rosedale Highway.

The plan is to start at 15,000 barrels per day — more than 25,000 gallons per hour — of renewable diesel. As a petroleum refinery it processed almost three times that volume until it was shut down about eight years ago by a former owner, Dallas-based Alon USA Energy Inc. Not including contractors or vendors, about 115 employees are expected to work on the site once preparations are complete. That’s roughly half what the refinery employed previously. Also, most of the new activity will be limited to the southernmost portion of the complex. But the new owner, having paid $40 million for the complex last year after securing $365 million in financing for the project, hopes to boost production even as it expects to demolish or sell off some 85 percent of the refinery’s equipment.

A senior executive said the company’s also looking at the feasibility of covering part of the more than 400-acre property with photovoltaic solar panels that would help reduce the operation’s carbon footprint. Local observers say Global Clean Energy’s efforts point to a bright future for Kern County’s economic diversification and transition to greater production of bioenergy serving California’s climate goals. “This is exactly what we need, basically retooling these facilities to expand our capabilities in renewable fuels,” said Nick Ortiz, president and CEO of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce.

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/renewable-diesel-revives-refinery-on-rosedale/article_fe82b3a8-9eeb-11eb-aae1-db8e795f2868.html

By Amanda Chandler Hi-Tech • Renewable Energy 0 Comments

Arvin potato plant orders Kern’s first microgrid to boost energy resiliency, efficiency

Microgrid technology promising greater energy flexibility and independence arrived in Kern Wednesday with the start of construction on an integrated power generation and storage system at an 1,100-employee ag facility in Arvin. The 5-megawatt solar, natural gas and battery installation Concentric Power Inc. is building at Tasteful Selections’ specialty potato plant will use advanced computer systems to increase efficiency and allow the operation to continue during external disruptions to its power.

Touted as the first such system in the county, the $12 million project kicked off engineering almost a year and a half ago. Solar panels went up between November and January, and the installation is expected to become fully operational by fall, cutting the plant’s power bill by an estimated 40 percent. Microgrids have become more popular in recent years as wider adoption of photovoltaic solar panels and batteries has increased demand for systems that can effectively coordinate them. The idea is to improve energy resilience while also integrating demand for energy with on-site production, shifting resources when necessary to meet real-time needs for electricity.

Senior executives at Tasteful Selections said the project will keep the lights on and refrigerators running when power goes out around the plant, which they said has happened in the past for three or more hours at a time. Losing electricity for even four hours can cause product degradation, they said, and an outage lasting days could cost millions of dollars in damage to the miniature potatoes it washes, stores and packages for shipment. “We always knew we needed to add something” to ensure energy resiliency, said the company’s chief operating officer, Nathan Bender. His father, CEO Bob Bender, said the company expects to pay off the microgrid’s cost within four to five years. Nathan noted the inclusion of natural gas as “firm power” adds a backup source while also producing heat that can be incorporated into the plant’s refrigeration units, thereby offsetting cooling costs.

At a ceremonial gathering Wednesday of dignitaries and employees of both companies, Concentric’s founder and CEO, Brian Curtis, said his Salinas-based organization will be responsible for not only designing and building the microgrid but that it will also maintain and service it for the installation’s lifetime of 25-plus years. It is the company’s first such project in the Central Valley. Its other installations are in the Salinas and Silicon valleys, Curtis said, adding that the biggest of its projects is a 5.3-megawatt microgrid in the Monterey area.

Concentric’s software and controls choose which energy source to use in real time, he explained. Such decisions are based on an understanding of the plant’s critical, essential and non-essential functions, he said: Certain compressors and fans may be turned on or off as needed, with respect for their operational tolerances. Curtis said Concentric hopes to build additional microgrids serving industrial ag processors in the Central Valley. The company expects to open an office in or near Bakersfield, possibly near Meadows Field Airport, within three to six months. “We’ve got a lot of good traction here and we’re excited to be coming to Kern,” Curtis said. The Central Valley “is just a huge market for what we’re doing.” The company works on large scales and doesn’t expect to serve residential needs, he said, adding, “This isn’t the kind of thing you’d put on your house.”

Tasteful Selections at 13003 Di Giorgio Road has expanded physically three times since starting in 2010. The Benders said the company now supplies half the U.S. market for small, specialty potatoes and is now the biggest such company in the country, if not the world.

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/arvin-potato-plant-orders-kerns-first-microgrid-to-boost-energy-resiliency-efficiency/article_428fd7e6-8cdc-11eb-97b9-b73ab67b6853.html

By Amanda Chandler Renewable Energy 0 Comments

City leaders say Fresno’s first solar farm with benefit residents environmentally and economically

The city of Fresno is partnering with Fresno Community Solar Developers LLC to build Fresno’s first solar farm. “This is exactly the kind of project that is used across the country as an example of what a green economy can look like,” said Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias.

The solar farm will be located on 158 acres of city-owned land near Jensen and Polk avenues, pending final approval from the California Public Utilities Commission. “We have successfully attracted the support of PG&E, and we expect that the California Public Utilities Commission will follow through and also support the project, making it completely operational within a year,” said Arias. The construction of the solar farm and the next 40 years of operation is funded by $20 million of private investment money.

Arias said the plan is one year in the making, and will benefit the city in multiple ways, like reducing pollution and providing 20 years of energy savings for local families with eligible incomes. “It is expected to be part of the Disadvantaged Community Green Tariff Program. That simply means that people that live in this area, there will be hundreds of people, who are able to save 20% on their energy bill,” said Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer. “Every year, over a million dollars passed on to people who live in many of these disadvantaged neighborhoods.” Arias said the solar farm will also bring much-needed job opportunities to the city of Fresno. “We’re also purposely and intentionally going to recruit and train 50 residents in west Fresno to build the solar farm, operate the solar farm,” said Arias, “which will give them the skill set to go to other green economy jobs in the area.”

https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/city-leaders-say-fresnos-first-solar-farm-with-benefit-residents-environmentally-and-economically/

By Amanda Chandler Food Processing • Renewable Energy 0 Comments

Planning Commission approves solar farm application

Lemoore’s largest employer, Leprino Cheese Co, has filed plans to build a 32 acre,10 megawatt solar farm just west of their big plant. Panels will be ground mounted. The city Planning Commission recently approved the application that will help cut the power bill at one the the largest cheese manufacturing facilities in the US. 10MW of power is enough to light up some 2500 homes.

The Lemoore West facility employs 1,000 team members, its size is equal to 11 football fields with over 640,000 square feet of cheese making capacity. Just how much of the daily power needs will be met by the solar farm is not known but it is thought to be substantial. In addition, having an on-site power source could offer the plant energy security in case of rolling grid blackouts.

In the past five years, the price of solar has declined some 45% says the Solar Energy Industry Association. Another incentive is the extension of the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC), where PV system owners qualify to offset tax payments owed to the IRS in an amount equal to 26% of the eligible cost basis of a solar photovoltaic system until the end of 2022.

California approves grants to food processors for similar systems to help food processors reduce their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

https://hanfordsentinel.com/community/kingsburg_recorder/around-kings-county-leprino-plans-10mw-solar-farm/article_92dc8173-9acb-59e9-9c80-db56fad1592a.html

By Amanda Chandler Energy • Renewable Energy • Top Stories 0 Comments

Chevron, Partners Advance Groundbreaking Carbon Capture Project in California’s Central Valley

A groundbreaking carbon capture power generation project is in the works by Chevron Corp., Schlumberger New Energy, Microsoft Corp. and Clean Energy Systems Inc. (CES) that could open the door to producing carbon negative power in Mendota, CA. The bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) project in the state’s agricultural mecca of the Central Valley is designed to convert agricultural waste biomass, such as almond trees, into a renewable synthesis gas. The gas then would be mixed with oxygen in a combustor to generate electricity. “More than 99% of the carbon from the BECCS process is expected to be captured for permanent storage,” the companies said, as carbon dioxide (CO2) would be injected underground into nearby deep geologic formations.

No financial details were disclosed. However, the project is designed to make “a vital contribution to the local economy by restarting an idled biomass plant,” said CES CEO Keith Pronske. Schlumberger New Energy’s Ashok Belani, executive vice president, said the project would show “how we play an enabling role to deploy carbon capture and sequestration solutions at scale…This unique BECCS project in California is a game-changing example of this.”

By using biomass fuel to consume CO2 to produce power and then permanently store the carbon leftovers, the process as designed could result in net-negative carbon emissions, according to the companies. If all things go to plan, the facility could remove about 300,000 tons/year of CO2. “There’s tremendous opportunity to use cloud technologies in the energy sector to help accelerate the industry’s digital transformation,” said Microsoft’s Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Cloud + AI. “Innovation at this scale” would be accelerated by the partnership.

Chevron’s Bruce Niemeyer, vice president of strategy and sustainability, said by leveraging its experience working in California, where the supermajor is headquartered, building projects “can be repeated” including large-scale CCS operations.  The completed facility is expected to improve air quality in the agriculture center of California, the Central Valley. When it ramps up, the facility is expected to use about 200,000 tons/year of agricultural waste. That figure is in line with California Air Resources Control Board’s plan to phase out most agricultural burning in the region by 2025.  The project is expected to create up to 300 construction jobs and about 30 permanent jobs once in operation. Front end engineering and design already has begun, with a final investment decision set for 2022.

https://www.naturalgasintel.com/chevron-partners-advance-groundbreaking-carbon-capture-project-in-californias-central-valley/

By Jennifer Renewable Energy 0 Comments

Clearway Completes Construction on Rosamond Central Solar Project

Clearway Energy Group (“Clearway”) announced today that it completed construction and reached commercial operations on the 192 MW Rosamond Central solar project in Kern County, California. Rosamond Central is contracted under Power Purchase Agreements with East Bay Community Energy and Clean Power Alliance, both Community Choice Aggregators providing a diverse range of power options to regional customers, and the City of Palo Alto Utilities, which has administered Palo Alto’s electric power system for 120 years.

“We are proud to continue contributing to California’s goal of 100% clean electricity and keep the state on the forefront of climate leadership,” said Valerie Wooley, Vice President of Origination at Clearway Energy Group. “In a year with countless headwinds, Rosamond Central came together thanks to the dedication and effort of many partners, including McCarthy’s swift action to create a safe working environment, and the trust of East Bay Community Energy, Clean Power Alliance, and City of Palo Alto to meet their customers’ demand for clean, reliable, and low-cost renewable energy.” “We’re excited to have energy projects like Rosamond come online and start serving our customers with clean energy that will maintain long-term rate stability. This project has given us the opportunity to create much needed jobs and allowed us to meet California’s ambitious renewable energy goals ahead of schedule,” said Natasha Keefer, Director of Power Planning and Procurement, Clean Power Alliance.

“This marks the first new utility-scale solar project built to serve EBCE customers with clean, affordable, renewable energy,” said EBCE CEO Nick Chaset. “EBCE’s 112 megawatts from this project lays the foundation of our portfolio of projects that will serve our electricity customers throughout Alameda County.” “The City of Palo Alto Utilities has been delivering 100% carbon neutral electricity to our customers since 2013, and we’ve been proud to do so while maintaining highly competitive rates compared to neighboring utilities,” said Dean Batchelor, utilities director. “This new power purchase agreement further enhances our ability to offer clean, renewable energy at an affordable rate, supporting our utility’s mission and citywide sustainability and climate action goals. With the addition of 26 MW generated by the Rosamond project to our energy portfolio, solar energy will now supply almost half of Palo Alto’s total electric needs each year.”

Construction of Rosamond Central began in February and was led by McCarthy Building Companies. More than 600 jobs were created during construction and the site will sustain several permanent operations and maintenance jobs. The solar site also represents a $5 million investment in Kern County through tax revenue to support area public services and will generate enough clean energy to power more than 71,000 homes each year.

This year, Clearway partnered with East Bay Community Energy to distribute $250,000 in grants to more than two dozen community-based organizations in Alameda County providing emergency relief and to purchase personal protective equipment for area frontline workers and at-risk community members during the pandemic.

Clearway is one of the largest renewable energy companies in the state with about 1,800 MW of operating renewable energy assets. Rosamond Central will expand Clearway’s footprint in Kern County, where the company owns and operates 1,053 MW of wind and solar energy assets and contributes approximately $20,000,000 in annual property taxes to the local economy. In December, Clearway announced a joint equity transaction for a 1.6 GW portfolio that includes Rosamond Central.

https://www.clearwayenergygroup.com/press-releases/clearway-completes-construction-on-rosamond-central-solar-project/

By Jennifer Energy • Renewable Energy 0 Comments

Bioenergy interest heats up in Kern County

Kern County business developers have seen a surge of interest lately from companies looking to build waste-to-energy projects that could create hundreds if not thousands of new local jobs in producing fuels that cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Four new bioenergy proposals came to the attention of the Kern Economic Development Corp. in the last half of 2020, joining four other prospects under active consideration. Most of the projects would employ more than 100 workers. One would dwarf the others with as many as 1,390 jobs across 100 to 200 acres.

Bioenergy has attracted substantial local investment in recent years as state lawmakers offer subsidies and favorable policies to promote big spending on infrastructure necessary to convert food waste, ag trimmings, dairy manure and even dead forest trees into cleaner-burning fuel whose environmental benefits can add up to be carbon negative. KEDC Vice President of Business Development Melinda Brown said the projects crossing her desk lately represent a variety of “green energy” technologies inspired by state mandates. Together, she said, they amount to a noticeable shift in interest in local manufacturing and industrial property. “They’re telling me this is all new industries” under development, she said Monday.

State legislation in 2016 targeted reductions in methane and other short-lived pollutants by forcing local jurisdictions to cut the amount of organic material they collectively send landfills by three-quarters. The best way to do that depends on the feedstock. Food and food-processing waste can be treated as dairy waste increasingly is, by fermenting it and refining the gas it produces into an easily stored fuel. Because that doesn’t work as well with waste such as vineyard prunings and almond hulls, another approach is to super-heat dry, fibrous, feedstock. That produces an energy-dense fuel and biochar, which can then be buried, or sequestered, to achieve carbon-reduction gains. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has estimated this technology could become a central tool for meeting California’s aggressive climate-change goals.

The executive director of the Bioenergy Association of California, Julia Levin, said Kern is “the perfect place for it,” not only because of the county’s large supply of ag waste but also its inventory of elected and appointed government officials who recognize the industry’s benefits, value and the opportunity it presents. Some environmental groups have actively opposed biofuels, in part because they usually entail emitting at least some pollution and older production techniques release relatively high levels of particulate matter. Many climate-change activists are pushing for an end to internal combustion altogether.

Levin said new technologies are much cleaner and that the alternative in much of the Central Valley is open burning. “You’re going to see a lot of growth in Kern County (bioenergy), but I think we’re going to see a lot of growth statewide,” said Levin. She added that significant government investment may yet be needed to meet California’s bioenergy potential.

The California Energy Commission said it has invested more than $27 million since 2007 in research and development in renewable natural gas, a common form of bioenergy that is basically methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas. The commission said it has given an additional $77 million in taxpayer money to biomethane projects. A number of dairies in Kern County have worked with Visalia-based California Bioenergy LLC to turn several thousand cows’ manure into biomethane. And on Millux Road, Denver-based Crimson Renewable Energy LLC has a refining plant making biodiesel entirely from waste such as used cooking oil.

Last year Torrance-based Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc. bought the former, 67,000-barrel-per-day refinery on Rosedale Highway and announced a $365 million project to reopen the plant by early 2022 with about 100 employees producing 10,000 barrels per day of biodiesel from cooking oil. It said the refinery will later make the product from a ground-cover plant called camelina. The head of 155-employee Kern Oil & Refining Co., which makes renewable diesel and other fuels at its 26,000-barrel-per-day refinery near Lamont, said leveraging conventional fuel production with market knowledge has helped the company emerge as a leader in renewable fuel production.

President and CEO Jennifer Haley said she encourages policymakers to cultivate a wide-ranging energy portfolio in the state. By attracting public and private investment, she said, Kern can demonstrate that “we can both address climate change and set the table for perpetual regional economic success.”

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/bioenergy-interest-heats-up-in-kern-county/article_643feeca-6a4b-11eb-9351-b704ef9a2543.html

By Jennifer Renewable Energy • Tourism 0 Comments

New electric vehicle fast chargers installed at Tejon Pass Rest Area, throughout Central Valley

The Tejon Pass Rest Area will be the recipient of new electric vehicle fast chargers that will assist drivers of those automobiles traveling through the Central Valley or over the Grapevine. According to a news release from the California Department of Transportation, the charging station is one of nine that were recently installed by Caltrans throughout the state, including nine new stations in the Central Valley. “Fast chargers are essential to continue growing EV adoption in California and meeting our state’s goals for combating climate change,” Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin said in the news release. “Expanding the availability of convenient fast-charging stations along state highways is significant for the future of California transportation.”

There are four chargers at the Tejon Pass Rest Area on the southbound side of Interstate 5, a popular stopping point for travelers located about 60 miles north of Los Angeles and 40 miles south of Bakersfield, the news release states. Caltrans District 7 Director Tony Tavares said there will be 18 other chargers staggered 40 miles apart in the region, as Caltrans attempts to reduce “recharging concerns for plug-in EV drivers on long-distance trips through the Central Valley.”

The Level 3 DC fast chargers provide an approximate 80 percent charge in 30 minutes to electric vehicles with fast-charging capability, the news release states. The chargers have universal connectors and are able to serve all electric vehicles on the market, including Teslas with an adapter. The $4.5 million project was funded by Caltrans and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District in Fresno, according to the news release.

Here are the new charging stations in the Central Valley, according to Caltrans:

• Junction Highway 58/Highway 184 in Bakersfield

• Caltrans Maintenance Station on Highway 41 and next to I-5 in Kettleman City

• Caltrans Maintenance Station, 805 S. Lexington St., next to Route 99 in Delano

• C.H. Warlow Rest Area NB/SB Highway 99 in Kingsburg

• Philip S. Raine Rest Area at SB Highway 99 near Tulare

• Philip S. Raine Rest Area at NB Highway 99 near Tulare

• Caltrans District 6 Office, 1283 N. West Ave., next to Highway 99 in Fresno

• Caltrans Maintenance Station, 125 W. Almond Ave., next to Highway 99 in Madera

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/new-electric-vehicle-fast-chargers-installed-at-tejon-pass-rest-area-throughout-central-valley/article_cf59c7e8-60dd-11eb-b83d-1ff37a789ffd.html