Landfill gas and geothermal energy will soon power a share of the state's massive water pumping infrastructure.
The California Department of Water Resources announced Wednesday it has signed deals to buy 33 megawatts of energy from the two sources through 2016. The majority comes from The Geysers geothermal field near Middletown, operated by the Northern California Power Agency. The rest comes from a gas-to-energy plant at Ox Mountain Landfill in Half Moon Bay.
DWR operates the State Water Project, one of the world's largest water delivery systems, which includes Oroville Dam and the California Aqueduct. It generates some hydroelectric energy but is a net consumer of energy, responsible for about 3 percent of all energy demand in California.
DWR has relied for decades, in part, on coal-fueled energy. But state law requires the department to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. This will be done largely by cutting out fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which has been said to alter the climate.
The latest purchases meet a fraction of the DWR's energy needs but are part of a larger strategy to make the state's water system climate-friendly.
In 2013, DWR will not renew a long-term contract at a coal-fueled power plant in Nevada. And in August, it began buying electricity from Lodi Energy Center, a new natural-gas power plant that is far cleaner than coal. For information, go to http://ht.ly/eqMn3.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by Matt Weiser
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.