The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s community choice energy program, CleanPowerSF, has secured its largest-ever single source of wind power through a new power purchase agreement with Scout Clean Energy for electricity produced by a new wind project in Merced County, Calif., SFPUC said on Oct. 23.
Gonzaga Ridge will provide 147.5 megawatts of wind energy as well as 50 megawatts of energy storage for CleanPowerSF’s 385,000 customers in San Francisco.
Developed by Colorado-based Scout Clean Energy, Gonzaga Ridge will be the largest single source of wind energy in CleanPowerSF’s power supply.
Additionally, the 50-megawatt, 4-hour battery energy storage system will store energy produced during the day for use in the evening, "when power from the grid is more costly and reliant on natural gas," SFPUC said.
The project is anticipated to come online in May 2026.
“Thanks to our investment in Gonzaga Ridge, we will be nearly doubling the amount of clean wind energy for our CleanPowerSF customers,” said SFPUC General Manager Dennis Herrera. “The SFPUC has been a clean energy provider for 100 years, and we are continuing to expand our renewable energy portfolio to supply San Francisco with clean, affordable, and reliable power. We’re helping to make the grid more resilient in the face of climate change, accelerate California's transition from fossil fuel power to more renewable energy, and create good jobs.”
The Gonzaga Ridge project is a redevelopment of an existing wind farm at the same site in Pacheco Park.
The project is expected to offset approximately 593,000 tons of carbon dioxide and create 200 jobs during the project’s development and construction, SFPUC said.
In addition, all 378 tons of turbine blades from the decommissioned site will avoid landfills and be recycled in a process that will produce 360,000 pounds concrete additives.
Including Gonzaga Ridge, CleanPowerSF has now secured contracts to purchase energy from more than 600 megawatts of new solar, wind and geothermal projects. Additionally, CleanPowerSF energy storage contracts now total over 300 megawatts.
As of 2024, CleanPowerSF’s energy portfolio is more than 95% clean and renewable. Over the past eight years, CleanPowerSF has helped San Francisco reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electricity use by 93% from 1990 levels.
CleanPowerSF began serving customers in 2016 with a mission to provide San Francisco residents and businesses with clean, renewable electricity at competitive rates.
CleanPowerSF procures clean energy from different producers, including through long-term contracts. Today, CleanPowerSF serves more than 380,000 customer accounts in San Francisco with clean and renewable energy supplies. Over the past eight years, CleanPowerSF has helped San Francisco reduce greenhouse gas emissions from electricity use by 93% from 1990 levels.
Along with CleanPowerSF, the SFPUC operates Hetch Hetchy Power, which generates and delivers 100% greenhouse gas-free energy to more than 6,300 customer accounts, including municipal buildings and facilities, such as San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco International Airport, schools, libraries and the Muni transit system. Hetch Hetchy Power also provides electricity to some commercial and residential developments, including affordable housing sites.
In 2023, CleanPowerSF and Hetch Hetchy Power collectively saved customers more than $170 million on electric bills compared to for-profit utility PG&E. Together, the SFPUC’s two power programs meet over 75% of the electricity demand in San Francisco.
SFPUC is a department of the City and County of San Francisco. It delivers drinking water to 2.7 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area, collects and treats wastewater for the City and County of San Francisco, and meets more than 75% of the electricity demand in San Francisco.
Scout Clean Energy is a renewable energy developer-owner-operator headquartered in Boulder, Colorado responsible for the development of approximately 1,400 megawatts of operating and under construction renewable energy assets in the US, 800 megawatts of which the company owns and operates.
Scout is currently developing a pipeline of approximately 19,000 megawatts of wind, solar and storage projects across 25 states. Scout is a portfolio company managed by Brookfield Asset Management, which acquired Scout in 2022.
