Letter of the Day: Local power

Local power

EDITOR: I have worked in the power generation industry here in Sonoma County for the past 35 years, and I thought it might be helpful for people to know some facts.

Here in Sonoma County, virtually all of our power is locally supplied by a renewable green energy resource — The Geysers. Owned and operated by Calpine Corp., the geothermal power plants at The Geysers use steam from the earth and generate more electricity than can be used by all of Sonoma County combined. The excess power flows into the grid but not before it gets to us first.

The Geysers, one of the largest green energy resources in the world, and located mostly in Sonoma County, supplies us directly with local renewable power.

Other local power companies already exist here as well. The Northern California Power Agency, which includes the cities of Healdsburg and Ukiah, built and operates two power plants at The Geysers and would be the best example of how some municipalities have broken away from PG&E.

Buying power that is an energy mix only generated partly from renewable resources and not generated locally does not make sense when we already have better than that right now.

MARK BARRY

Santa Rosa