EBCE Advances Plans to be 100% Green by 2030
June 2022https://ebce.gov
EBCE has been in acquisition mode this year, signing a power contract plus a contract to electrify low income homes. Another two projects achieved commercial operation recently. It intends to beat the state renewables mandate by 15 years.
East Bay Community Energy, headquartered in Oakland, announced on May 24 it is partnering with Fervo Geothermal Energy which will dispatch 40 MW of firm, 24/7 geothermal power starting in the fourth quarter of 2026 from Churchill County Nevada to California’s grid. This deployment will, in part, satisfy the state’s mandate for EBCE to purchase 1,000 MW of non-weather dependent, zero-emission energy by 2026.
EBCE serves more than 1.7 million residential and commercial customers in Alameda and San Joaquin Counties in Northern California. It signed seven energy storage contracts in 2019 totaling more than 350 MW. Many are in conjunction with solar systems. Two additional contracts were also signed for solar and wind projects without storage.
Fervo said in the press release, it is a next-generation geothermal company applying new geothermal technology, including horizontal drilling and distributed optic sensing, “that makes geothermal power accessible in far more places than before and drastically increases its potential as a widespread energy source.”
Bloc Power is partnering with EBCE to upgrade and electrify 60 homes in EBCE’s service territory according to an April 12 announcement. This new work follows an initial pilot upgrading and electrifying 12 Oakland homes. EBCE is providing $1 million in project financing and $400,000 in incentives through its Local Development program to fund this “first-of-its-kind project, according to EBCE, for low- to moderate income single family households.
Brooklyn-based Bloc Power will use EBCE’ financing to install affordable and clean heating, cooling and hot water systems and electric appliances alongside EBCE and community partners. They will also deliver weatherization and remediation to help reduce indoor air pollution, improve health outcomes and increase home values. Furthermore, upgraded infrastructure will improve resiliency during extreme weather events.
The two companies predict saving these EBCE Oakland customers an average of nearly $1,000 in annual energy bills, an estimated 40% savings. It will also cut EBCE’s delivery load.
EBCE and Bloc Power will work with independent community partners, including Revalue.io and local minority and women-owned businesses to provide installations and “safeguard customer interests.”
Convergent Energy+Power confirmed in January the 10MW/40MWh energy storage system it financed and developed for EBCE is now operational. The system, which EBCE will control, will be maintained by Convergence
This contract is one of the seven EBCE signed in 2019. Nick Chaset, CEO of EBCE, said in the January announcement, “Renewable energy is critical to our clean energy future and wind and solar alone will not keep the lights on,”
The latest project to begin commercial operation is EBCE’s 73-MW Luciana Solar Project in Ducor, Tulare County, CA. Built by Idemitsu Renewables the two companies made the joint announcement May 31 and said it will provide power equivalent to 20,000 homes through a 15-year power purchase agreement EBCE signed with Idemitsu Renewables.
Cary Vandenberg, CEO of Idemitsu Renewables, said in the announcement, the company faced unprecedented supply chain challenges in the past year while still achieving commercial operation on schedule to provide significant investment in Tulare County through jobs, fees and tax revenues.