Valley Clean Energy celebrates groundbreaking of 3-MW solar + storage project in Winters, California

• With the public unveiling last week of a 3-MW solar + storage project west of Winters, Valley Clean Energy (VCE) took an additional step toward its objective of supplying more regional sustainable power generation for its clients.

The 20-year agreement with Putah Creek Solar Farms for 3 MW of solar power and 3 MW of battery storage was accepted by VCE's board of directors last December. Valley Clean Energy is the regional electrical power service provider for the cities of Winters, Woodland and Davis along with the unincorporated parts of Yolo County.

At the general public occasion Aug. 10, Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, a long time Winters resident who was the city's very first female mayor, praised Winters location farmer and project co-owner Dan Martinez as a "visionary," while including that California has to triple its annual solar and wind setups to satisfy its objective of a carbon-neutral grid by 2045.

" As a result of the danger of more constant wildfires in California, we have to do whatever possible to raise local integrity in the electrical energy supply and systems," Aguiar-Curry added, pointing to the Winters project as a key item of the puzzle.

Winters City Councilmember Jesse Loren, vice- chair of the VCE board, advised the celebration of local political leaders, policymakers and market specialists that VCE has actually set an enthusiastic objective of giving 80% renewable energy by 2030, with up to 25% of that originating from neighborhood resources.

" Winters is an agricultural area; it's a farming neighborhood," she stated. "And do you recognize what we're farming today? We're farming energy, and I couldn't be much more pleased with that.

" What we need are regional jobs: that's just how we'll minimize vehicle miles traveled, that's how we will help with our very own environment objectives. And this is a lovely suit," Loren stated, indicating the project website. "It's regional jobs, neighborhood energy, feeding our grid in your area."

Homeowner Dan Martinez said the 8,262 photovoltaic or pv panels and the battery storage system will inhabit around 19 acres of a 31-acre residential or commercial property that when was a walnut orchard. Commercial procedure of the project is expected by November.

The Putah Creek Land Co. additionally built a 15-acre solar array simply southern of this building in 2014; energy from that plant is sold to PG&E.

" Yolo County has a long history of securing agricultural ground," stated Martinez, who is joined in this effort by his longtime business partner Santiago Moreno. "Yet they also recognize the fact that there's an equilibrium. In this situation, we're eliminating trees that were one resource and now we're creating a different source."

In addition to the Putah Creek Solar Farm, the VCE board also authorized the Gibson Renewables project last December, which is expected to create 20 MW of solar power and give 6.5 MW of battery energy storage. Commercial operation of that project, which will certainly be developed along Highway 16 between Madison and Esparto, is targeted for late 2022.

With each other, both projects are expected to satisfy almost 10% of the energy needs of VCE's entire service area.