Edhat Staff
By the edhat staff
Central Coast Community Energy (CCCE), a public agency that sources competitively priced electricity from clean and renewable energy resources, joined forces with Silicon Valley Clean Energy to start a commercial wind power operation in Riverside County to provide clean, renewable energy to Californians and help support the transition to a carbon-free power grid.
The “Mountain View Wind Repowering Project,” operated by the AES Corporation, removed more than 100 old turbines to replace them with 16 more powerful Vestas turbines outside of Palm Springs. The repowered 67 Megawatt (MW) facility will deliver 257 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of clean energy per year, enough electricity to power about 40,000 homes.
“This wind repowering project supports our agency’s goal of achieving 100% renewable energy for the five counties that make up California’s Central Coast,” said CCCE CEO, Tom Habashi. “The Mountain View Wind Project came online earlier than expected. This is a positive sign during this time of increased energy demands and strains due to extreme weather, wildfires, and drought. It demonstrates that the continued exponential growth of renewable energy is not only needed to meet climate goals; it is also possible and sustainable.”
CCCE originally launched as Monterey Bay Community Power in March of 2018 as the first tri-county Community Choice Aggregator. It currently services Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. Since launching, CCCE has executed 17 long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) totaling 889MW of renewable generation and $2.1 billion invested.
“The repowered Mountain View Wind facility is an example of how efficiency improvements to existing projects are instrumental in our journey to decarbonization,” said Monica Padilla, SVCE COO. “The addition of this long-term wind resource increases the reliability and diversity of the power mix SVCE customers receive and supports continued renewable production for the state.”
The facility will provide wind power to two Community Choice Aggregators, 33.33 MWs to Central Coast Community Energy and 33.33 MWs to Silicon Valley Clean Energy, under a 20- year-PPA.
The PPA is the result of the third joint SVCE-CCCE solicitation issued in 2020. The PPA was board-approved and executed in April 2021.
Part of this, not mentioned, is that the “repowering’ (ugh) replaces over 100 older windmills with 16 new units. This has to be aesthetically better for that pass which had become pretty ugly. I hope that we get some information on the recycling or recovery of the old units in a healthy way. But really, does anyone believe that the electrons produced by these units are specifically directed to SB customers?
replacing older less efficient unit with newer ones is not bad. No one said it was specifically for Santa Barbara only, its clearly explained right here if you read it.
“CCCE originally launched as Monterey Bay Community Power in March of 2018 as the first tri-county Community Choice Aggregator. It currently services Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. Since launching, CCCE has executed 17 long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) totaling 889MW of renewable generation and $2.1 billion invested.”
PSTASR: Read the press release. “This wind repowering project supports our agency’s goal of achieving 100% renewable energy for the five counties that make up California’s Central Coast,” said CCCE CEO, Tom Habashi. This seems to be an explicit lie that the energy being produced was to be directed to out communities. This is impossible. Don’t be naive. It is nice that more renewable energy is on line but the idea that this group is helping us locally is deceptive and only offered to get us to fund their scheme to slice off profits for themselves. CCCE is more costly than SCE which has a mandate to produce and distribute clean energy already.
I read it, also was at the meetings about it. you are not correct, sorry. It is not “impossible” for green energy to be dispersed to santa barbara homes. on the contrary, it readily is.
im not sure how you deemed this deceptive in anyway, its been clear from the start and still is
I’m not a big fan of these “bird blenders”, but if that’s the cost we have to pay for clean energy, then so be it. Two months ago I drove across Texas and Oklahoma, which are known as ‘Big Oil’ country, and saw hundreds of wind turbines….these things were H-U-G-E!!!
Chip is correct in that Diablo Canyon is not being decommissioned, at least not yet. I think both Gov. Newsom and President Biden deserve our complete gratitude for keeping DC open and running. Look what happened in Germany when climate change caused the wind not to blow….now they are having to fire up the old coal plants to generate electricity. Germany was warned, but they went ahead with Russian energy. Didn’t work out so well for Germany (France kept their nuke plants running….they have energy for their future, which is not as bleak as the direction Merkel took Germany (down the tubes and its citizens want to leave to live just about anywhere else).
Lots of science and data deniers here disagreeing with you Babycakes.
VoiceOfReason: I don’t have a “bone to pick” with anyone who disagrees with me as I’m confident in what I know and don’t know (and I don’t know plenty). One of the problems is that some folks only listen to/read/watch sources of information that they already agree with. For example, one of the radio programs that I listen to on most mornings is Amy Goodman & Co. on NPR’s ‘Democracy Now’. I can see where someone who relies solely on NPR/MSNBC/etc. for their news is by definition completely lacking in information because anyone who disagrees with them is “The Enemy……MUST-BE-DESTROYED!” The same goes for those who only listen to Hanity/Tucker/etc. ….. but the main difference is that the presenters on Fox are presenting opinions, whereas the Amy Goodman-types at NPR present their opinions as hard news.
I’m a fairly simple person with lots of personal experience. A couple weeks back someone was aghast that drugs were easy to find in jail (“Really? Prove it….tell us how it’s done! ….something to that effect anyway). Whoever did not believe that it was easy to find drugs in jail/prison knows nothing about the business of incarceration. BTW….here’s how: Prisoner X shows Guard A a photo of the guard’s wife/kids leaving church/grocery store/school….Guard A then decides it’s best to look the other way when Prisoners Y & Z have coozies in their jacuzzies.
@VOICE: Of COURSE you have to come in and disagree when anyone congratulates a Democrat on a job well done. Eye roll.
Good news!
This sounds great at a glance. Some quick back of the envelope arithmetic shows that 60-70 more sites like this could replace the annual output of Diablo canyon. There is just one problem, the wind doesn’t always blow. These windmills won’t do any good when the wind is down. Thankfully, governor Newsom is teaming up with Joe Biden to save Diablo canyon which provides critical baseload power when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. This will be critical for the long term reliability of electrical service in california.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/29/newsom-offers-hope-for-californias-last-nuclear-plant-diablo-canyon.html
so whats the problem? when the wind blows we make power……. soooooooo?
Just Chip spreading FUD about green power, and buying into the lies about fission power.
So if I’m spreading “FUD” and “lies about nuclear power” then what are Gavin Newsom and Joe Biden doing trying to stop nuclear plants from being decommissioned?
Making a mistake for instant gratification.
Where did the article mention Diablo Canyon, or replacing Diablo Canyon?
3:16 just throwing out words with no regard to their meaning or accuracy.
The fantasy of launching nuclear waste is way beyond stupid – it’s stupid, dangerous, and very, very expensive.
Chip: Those are some impressive mental gymnastics that led you to the conclusion that making our energy renewable is “supporting China.” We had better be careful or they will catch up to us in the number of steam engines and horse-drawn carriages per capita. China has some of the worst air pollution in the world with phone apps telling people in urban areas whether it’s “safe” to exercise outside. We are fortunate enough to live in a place that values life and freedom more than that.
Chillin, I think you are missing my point. I’m grateful to live here and not in China. However, if we truly want to protect the environment and advance the cause of human rights then we should think very carefully about how “green” policies influence our self sufficiency and make us dependent on China. If you think russia has put the squeeze on Europe, that’s nothing. Imagine if we entered a conflict with China over Taiwan and China decided to cut off exports to our country. We would be in serious trouble. A frightening number of products would vanish from store shelves without Chinese imports, and many products that are ostensibly “made in USA” would also go out of production due to a lack of essential Chinese components that we no longer have the means to produce. We should not allow so-called “green” policy to make us dependent on China and vulnerable to China, especially when such policies lead to more CO2 emissions and more pollution than maintaining domestic energy and industrial production.
Then manufacturing of wind turbine components, solar panels, batteries, and other parts of a renewable grid should be subsidized. Just like taxpayers have subsidized the oil and auto industries to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. But that will never happen when with the current dingbats in office. Not saying you have this view, but there is a misconception that China “steals” our jobs. American CEO’s choose to outsource those jobs. Under the current incentive structure, gutting US communities and hiring slaves and children to make our products is far more profitable than being ethical. That’s why the whole “pro-business” shtick is total BS. Many of the companies don’t even pay taxes! I don’t get too upset though. When the civil unrest starts the corporate criminals will be the first to go.
More Green smoke and mirrors. $2.1 Billion spent to power about 40K homes, none of which being in SB. Yet, we need to keep Diablo on line…why? Hmmm, must be an election year and pretty boy, Newsom didn’t want the political fallout from brown outs?
As for Merkle and Germany, yes they need to fire up nuke plants…why? Because renewables didn’t work, especially in winter and they didn’t dig the fact that Putin has them by the huevos! Oh yes, that’s right, Texas has tons of turbines, didn’t work so great when they had a record freeze.
Gee, we are handicapping our economy with this nonsense, just when China is building the largest coal plant in the world.
Folks we are months away from an historic reformation in the form of a mid- term, Dem, ass whipping.
Voters are pissed and tired of this con. Ever wonder why there’s no baggers at Albertsons?
It’s because these entry level workers can’t afford to get to work!
In the aggregate, the Petro industry is far from perfect and needs strict regulations, BUT, they have helped provide the HIGHEST level of living standard in human history!
Those are the facts, don’t like it?…too bad!
SBTejano: The problem isn’t that renewables “don’t work,” it’s that they haven’t been phased in enough. Texas has the most wind power of any state, yet that only contributes 15-20% to the power grid while natural gas is close to 50%. Blaming wind turbines, solar and “LibErAls” was a convenient scapegoat for their power problems last year. But the real issue was that the state didn’t winterize power infrastructure because they’re incompetent clowns and wanted to save money. Keep dredging up the Faux News mythology though, it’s entertaining.
SBTEJANO seems to think that we should embrace and exceed China’s disastrous practices for reasons unknown to human grace. Such a slide into Hades will further doom the next generations of life (human, animal and plant) all for the benefit of “cheaper” energy to run our consumption based lives. We have alternatives which require but a little “sacrifice” and they should be pursued. Forsake the momentary easy and look long term. Investing in new clean technology will inevitably result in cheaper and more healthy alternatives to carbon based pollution.
“just when China is building the largest coal plant in the world.” – Yes, let’s be like China.
Sac, I don’t think anyone wants to be like China. The problem is, we are helping them grow stronger. China now produces the majority of the world’s coal generated electricity, and China is increasing its capacity to mine and burn coal at a record pace. This comes as the us and Europe are shutting down coal production and coal power generation. What’s the point of trying to cut our emissions if we do it by outsourcing our coal burning to China? If coal is going to be burned, it ought to be burned right here in the USA where we can maintain the highest environmental and labor standards. Outsourcing to China increases pollution, and one must also consider their labor standards, their use of slaves, and their efforts to expand their oppressive influence overseas. Why are we supporting China by closing down our domestic energy production and manufacturing industries?