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| Marin's Largest Solar Installation Could Have Been in Richmond October 26, 2012 |
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What does this have to do with Richmond? Two things. The electrical energy from this project will be sold to Marin Energy Authority (MEA) and ultimately become part of the pool of Marin Clean Energy (MCE) electrical energy consumed by Richmond residents when MEA goes on line in Richmond in mid-2013. The owners of this San Rafael Airport 1 megawatt project, JHS Properties, are also the owners of a large parcel of vacant land on Richmond’s North Shoreline adjacent to the Richmond Rod and Gun Club, that controversial area that was in contention for so long in consideration of Richmond’s General Plan 2030. During the general plan controversy, JHS Properties and Richmond Development Company (Josh Genser and Jerry Overaa) acted in unison with JHS Properties because their parcels are contiguous and they have proposed joint development project that span both parcels. The owners have also donated tens of thousands of dollars to certain City Council members and spent additional thousands in a campaign to protect their land from zoning changes. Note that the San Rafael Airport project resulted in 20 construction jobs and three full-time employees. Now, why didn’t Herbst, Overaa and Genser build the 1 megawatt project on Richmond’s North Shoreline in order to create Richmond jobs? We don’t know, but it’s not too late. You can email the three of them and ask them to build their next solar project in Richmond in order to create Richmond jobs and generate electricity consumed by Ricmonders in Richmond.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 24, 2012 Marin Clean Energy | Jamie Tuckey, jtuckey@marinenergy.com, 415-464-6024 MARIN BUSINESSES CELEBRATE THE COUNTY’S LARGEST SOLAR INSTALLATION SAN RAFAEL, OCTOBER 24, 2012 — Today marks the official unveiling of the largest solar installation in Marin County at the San Rafael Airport. Muir Beach-based Synapse Electric installed the 972 kW AC project that is now supplying ‘locally grown’ renewable energy to Marin Clean Energy (MCE) customers. MCE will purchase 100% of the power generated from more than 4,600 panels on 48 hangar rooftops at the San Rafael Airport which will be distributed through PG&E’s existing power lines. This project, which produced its first kilowatt-hours of solar power on October 23, is a groundbreaking example of how a local not-for-profit organization, Marin Clean Energy, can work collaboratively with local businesses to promote green energy, green jobs and the local economy. As a regional and national leader in procuring renewable energy supply for its customers, MCE is the first and currently only operating Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program in California, accelerating the creation of local renewable energy projects with its standard offer contract Feed-In Tariff. MCE has paved the way for other California cities and counties to follow suit. “This is a landmark project for Marin Clean Energy” Marin Energy Authority Chairman and San Rafael Council Member, Damon Connolly said. “The San Rafael Airport solar installation is the first local project to provide renewable power to Marin Clean Energy customers. This is a strong example of local business and local government working together to strengthen our local economy, generating good jobs and affordable, reliable, renewable power.” As part of a larger effort to implement a series of sustainability practices, San Rafael Airport Manager Bob Herbst notes that the “project was the catalyst of a series of sustainability initiatives that we are taking on, including a collaboration with the Dominican University Green MBA students to achieve Green Business Certifications under the Marin County Green Business Program. We’ve also just signed a lease with the Agricultural Institute of Marin to manage Marin’s eight farmers’ markets on-site at the Airport. The clean power generated at the airport will eliminate 1,138 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, the equivalent of removing 223 cars from the road or planting 29,000 trees.” As a model of business working to create local ‘green’ jobs, Synapse Electric hired 20 workers specifically for this project through the Marin City Community Development Corporation and CLP Resources, Inc., a trades staffing company. Synapse also hired 3 new locally-based, full-time employees. San Rafael-based company REP Energy designed the installation, and the REC Group manufactured 85% of the solar panels, made with USA content. Power-One supplied all of the inverters, which are American-made. ###
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