Healdsburg becomes second Sonoma County city to operate on 100 percent renewable power

Healdsburg has transitioned its electrical accounts for city government to entirely renewable sources, becoming just the second city in Sonoma County to do so in an effort to meet the state’s long-term greenhouse-gas reduction goals.

The decision to switch to 100 percent renewable power for locations including City Hall, police and fire departments and the wastewater treatment plant was unanimously backed by City Council last month. Initial estimates put the additional cost for city government at ?$103,000 a year.

Upgrades to improve energy efficiency across the city are expected to defray the majority of those charges and help Healdsburg shrink the carbon footprint of its government operations.

“It’s an existential crisis that’s been made very clear,” Vice Mayor Leah Gold said of climate change. “We just need to do everything we can. And this is a relatively easy way to do it as far as being painless to your lifestyle. It’s using clean energy and still doing the things you want, but just sourced in a way that’s less polluting.”

Sonoma in 2016 became the first city in the county to commit to a 100 percent renewable portfolio to power government operations.

Currently, most customers of Healdsburg’s municipal utility, including homes and businesses, derive 77 percent of their electricity supply from renewable sources, according to city utility staff.

That mix comes primarily from energy produced at The Geysers geothermal field on the Sonoma-Lake county border, with the remainder coming from hydroelectric power purchased through a regional ?cooperative.

Starting this billing cycle, the city is set to receive all of its supply from that renewable portfolio, and city officials hope that a larger number of residential and commercial customers will follow suit.

“This is the first step, and we see this as exactly that,” said Terry Crowley, Healdsburg’s utility director. “It’s the first step, not the last step, and then the next step we really need to focus on is building those additional renewable energy sources that are going to supply electrification.”

Healdsburg already is ahead of revised state mandates, now requiring 65 percent of power to come from renewable sources by the end of 2030. All of California’s energy must originate from carbon-free sources by 2045 under the same changes, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in September.

Citing that mandate and a 2015 executive order from Brown on carbon emissions, Healdsburg officials were looking to bolster the city’s green energy push. The plan is for homeowners and businesses to opt in for the 100 percent renewable supply before it is eventually required by the state, Crowley said.

That “green rate” option has been available to Healdsburg utility customers since 2012, but just seven have signed up so far. That’s not unusual, as such fully renewable portfolios tend to have a small minority of customers across power providers, officials said.

“I don’t know if you can incentivize having people pay more,” said Felicia Smith, a city utility conservation analyst. “But for anyone who cares about climate change in Healdsburg, we tend to point to this as one of the steps that they can take to help.”

While the fully renewable supply currently comes at a higher cost, Healdsburg’s rates are cheaper than those paid by PG&E customers, according to Gold, the vice mayor. The majority of Sonoma County ratepayers get electricity through Sonoma Clean Power, which touts rates that are slightly less expensive than PG&E for its standard supply, which is 45 percent renewable.

Healdsburg resident Gail Jonas, 78, has signed up to receive the 100 percent renewable supply starting next year. She said she tries her best to live a “low-energy-consumption life,” using solar panels to help power her 1,500-square-foot home. The switch to carbon-free electricity was a simple choice.

“I won’t even notice it,” Jonas said of the higher cost, which according to her bill will average out to about $3 more per month. “We need to pay for a cleaner earth. I’m not unhappy contributing to the whole of what everyone needs.”

Healdsburg’s utility is expanding its renewable energy supply with a new 20-year contract for solar power from a Southern California installation. The deal, set to kick in by 2021, is partly in anticipation of diminished future returns from The Geysers, the giant geothermal field that sits about a dozen miles northeast of the city.

Separately, the city is exploring a project that would add floating solar panels over the wastewater plant’s ponds to offset roughly 80 percent of its energy needs.

“There’s a lot of different things to try to look at to see how long can they extend the life of geothermal plants,” Crowley said. “But it’s one those things where you have to forecast out that reduction and figure out: What are we going to do to replace it? That’s where we’re looking at these other projects.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.