USA, California:

Geothermal Bill Moves On (Imperial Valley News)

SB 1139 Approved in Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee

The California State Capitol in Sacramento

Yesterday, the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce approved SB 1139, authored by Senator Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) and Assemblymember Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella).  The bill diversifies the state’s energy portfolio by requiring energy retail sellers to procure 500 megawatts of electricity from baseload geothermal power plants by 2024.

“SB 1139 has the potential to generate $38M per year in local revenue, hundreds of high paying jobs and investments toward meaningful economic development. All of these benefits, resilience, and reliability to our current energy system for a small procurement of less than 1% of the current energy portfolio,” said Senator Hueso. “This bill creates the kind of smart development needed in California to produce jobs, protect against fuel price increases and reduce greenhouse gas and fossil fuel emissions.”

“It has taken a lot of effort and education to advance this measure,” explained Pérez. “Californians are still learning about the benefits of geothermal - its ability to provide base load power with nominal greenhouse gas emissions makes it a great choice for filling the gap created by the closure of San Onofre, while enabling the state to stay on track with our emissions reductions goals,” said Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez.  “At the local level, the development of geothermal resources will create jobs for our Coachella and Imperial Valley communities as well as potential financing for Salton Sea restoration.”

SB 1139 was approved on a vote of 8-5 and now heads to Assembly Appropriations Committee.