USA, California:

Sonoma Clean Power Flips Switch for First Customers (North Bay Business Journal)

260 customers have signed up for geothermal power only

After three years of planning, Sonoma County’s new renewable energy-focused electricity provider, Sonoma Clean Power, on Thursday officially began serving its first group of more than 20,000 customers.

The agency on Thursday began service to 23,070 accounts — 16,845 commercial and 6,225 residential — spread evenly around participating municipalities in Sonoma County.

A contract with Houston-based Calpine Corp., the largest operator at The Geysers geothermal field in the Mayacamas Mountains, will provide for a premium 100 percent renewable product offered as an option for customers.

Sonoma Clean Power offers a primary “CleanStart” program including a one-third renewable energy mix as a baseline, as well as a 100 percent renewable “EverGreen” program at a 3.5-cent-per-kilowatt-hour premium. That premium currently goes to pay the additional cost of energy from Calpine but has been proposed for allocation to a fund for certain incentive programs.

Nearly 260 customers have signed up for the EverGreen program to date — all prior to any marketing. Public outreach is expected to begin this summer.

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