Peninsula Clean Energy Signs Four Contracts Expanding Renewable Power, Storage Capability

REDWOOD CITY, CA – Jan. 24, 2023 – Peninsula Clean Energy is moving forward with energy storage, geothermal, wind and small hydropower projects that will assist the agency’s industry leading effort to provide customers with renewable power on an hourly basis.

Nova III will be Peninsula Clean Energy’s first stand-alone storage project and will provide up to 50 megawatts of four-hour lithium ion battery storage over 15 years beginning in August 2024. The project, developed by Calpine Corporation  in Riverside County, California, displaces fossil fuel infrastructure as it is located on the same site and uses existing interconnection infrastructure of the former 750-MW Inland Empire gas turbine.

The Whitegrass No. 2 project will provide Peninsula Clean Energy with 6 megawatts of geothermal power over 20 years. Open Mountain Energy is developing the project in Lyon County, Nevada, with power coming online by the start of 2025.

The Burney Creek Hydroelectric Project will provide 3 megawatts of small hydroelectric power over 15 years from an existing Snow Mountain Hydro site in Shasta County, California, beginning in January 2024.

CalWind’s Wind Resource 1 began a three-year contract with Peninsula Clean Energy in January to provide nearly 9 megawatts of wind power near Tehachapi in Kern County, California.

In addition to the four newly signed contracts, the Heber 2 geothermal facility began delivery in January and will provide Peninsula Clean Energy with 26 megawatts for 15 years. Peninsula Clean Energy signed the contract last year with Ormat Technologies, who developed the project in Imperial Valley, California.

All five projects will help Peninsula Clean Energy take important steps toward its industry-leading goal of matching customer demand with 100-percent renewable power on an hourly basis 99 percent of the time by 2025.

They also help meet the agency’s requirements under the California Public Utility Commission’s mandate to ensure safe and reliable delivery of electricity that reduces heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions.

“These projects will help Peninsula Clean Energy meet its goal of matching renewable power supply with customer power demand on an hourly basis,” Peninsula Clean Energy CEO Jan Pepper said. “This is not only our top priority as an agency but also allows us to take the lead among all utilities in demonstrating that it is possible to provide hourly renewable energy in a cost-effective way.”

The four newly signed contracts are the most recent to stem from a batch of 70 project proposals that Peninsula Clean Energy received from a November 2021 solicitation.