Currents

An Energy Newsletter for Local Governments

Anaheim Taps Into Renewable Resource Generation From California’s Largest Wind Plant

The City of Anaheim on September 1st began taking wind-generated electrical energy from the state’s largest wind plant, the High Winds Energy Center, in Solano County. Anaheim Public Utilities’ participation in the High Winds Project will add 6 megawatts of renewable resource capacity to its power portfolio.

“The purchase of this energy will assist Anaheim Public Utilities in meeting our proposed goal of maintaining a 15% renewable resource share in our portfolio by the end of 2017,” said Marcie Edwards, Public Utilities General Manager. “By increasing our use of renewable resources, we will be improving the environment while maintaining a reliable overall energy supply portfolio.”

“Wind power uses no fuel, so it has no fuel costs,” Edwards said. “In that regard, wind energy is a solid, long-term, fixed-price hedge against fuel price volatility. Furthermore, we anticipate no adverse impact on customer rates due to acquiring these new renewable energy resources.”

The cities of Anaheim, Azusa, Colton, Glendale and Pasadena are all participants in the High Winds Project. These cities all operate electric utilities and are members of the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA). Working through SCPPA, the cities jointly negotiated contracts totaling 30 megawatts, or 20% of the output from the High Winds Energy Center. By working together and pooling resources, SCPPA member agencies were able to take advantage of economies of scale in purchasing renewable resource generation.

California’s municipal utilities are exempt from the State’s requirement of 20% renewable resources in the portfolios of the investor owned utilities by 2017. It is encouraging to see that these Munis are making efforts to approach that goal regardless.

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