Mayor Gavin Newsom today hailed San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) plans to construct a small 200 kw renewable hydroelectric project at the University Mound Reservoir, which is currently undergoing seismic retrofit. This innovative hydroelectric plant – the first of its kind in San Francisco – will generate clean, renewable energy from excess water pressure in the City’s water distribution system. This energy, which would otherwise be lost, will meet the strictest requirements for California’s renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and green energy markets. The project will be funded by $2.5 million in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBS) recently awarded to the SFPUC through a low-interest loan program administered by the Federal Government to encourage renewable energy projects. Read more

09/29/09 - Mayor Newsom today announced recommendations from San Francisco’s Urban Wind Power Task Force, charged with finding ways to encourage the expansion of local wind power generation in San Francisco. The Task Force’s 29 recommendations include working at the state-level to exempt small wind turbines from property tax increases, installing more City-owned small wind demonstration sites, and exploring offering permitting cost refunds.

"In order to meet our ambitious renewable energy and climate goals, we need to pursue all technologies available to us," said Mayor Newsom. "Anyone who’s ever been San Francisco knows that we have parts of the city that get a lot of wind. It’s time for San Francisco to start harnessing its collective ingenuity to construct small-scale urban wind sites on city and private property."

Other recommendations include developing a "San Francisco Wind Map," implementing a wind anemometer (wind meter) loan program to allow potential wind customers to borrow anemometers from the City to better understand their wind resource, and exploring the possibility of revising city-wide height limits to allow for greater wind power generation. Read more

Fotowatio establishes North American Headquarters in San Francisco

09/15/09 - Mayor Gavin Newsom today welcomed Spanish independent solar power producer, Fotowatio, to San Francisco. Fotowatio has established its North American Headquarters in San Francisco, under the company name "Fotowatio Renewable Ventures." San Francisco will also serve as a base for the U.S. expansion of Fotowatio Renewable Ventures.

In March 2009, Fotowatio acquired San Francisco based MMA Renewable Ventures, one of the leading solar power project developers in the country. Fotowatio’s decision to keep the Renewable Ventures division and establish its North America Headquarters in San Francisco maintains 50 cleantech jobs and includes aggressive plans for future domestic expansion. Read more.

SAN FRANCISCO (Aug 13, 2009) -- City Attorney Dennis Herrera has reached an agreement with Mirant to permanently shutter the company's Potrero power plant by the end of 2010, and to secure the Atlanta-based energy giant's unprecedented commitment to join the City in actively pushing for the plant's closure should state or federal energy regulators attempt to delay it. Under terms of the agreement signed by Mirant officials today, the company will also pay at least $1 million to the City to help address pediatric asthma in nearby communities and to initiate other mitigations in neighborhoods adjacent to the fossil-fueled facility. Mirant will pay another $100,000 to the San Francisco City Attorney's Office for legal fees and costs.

The groundbreaking accord follows nearly a decade of often bitterly contentious legal, political and regulatory maneuvering by Herrera, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, former Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, the S.F. Public Utilities Commission and many other community leaders to finally close the City's last remaining large power plant. Efforts in recent years to speed the closure of the nearly 50-year-old facility have included opposing the renewal of the state permit for its antiquated "once-through" cooling system, and working to install cleaner, municipally-owned replacement generators that had been secured in a 2002 legal settlement to meet state-mandated electricity generation requirements. Earlier this year, Herrera also filed a civil lawsuit against Mirant for violating the City's Unreinforced Masonry Buildings ordinance at the Potrero site. Read more

07/31/09 - Mayor Gavin Newsom today unveiled a proposal to locate a United Nations center focused on global warming and green technology at the former Hunters Point Shipyard. The proposed center would be part of the United Nations "Global Compact" and would be focused on promoting sustainable and clean technologies. A UN Global Compact Center would likely include a clean tech business incubator, offices of the UN Global Compact, and a retreat / conference center to facilitate the exchange of sustainability best practices and other innovations related to combating global warming.

"Locating the UN Global Compact Center in San Francisco will reinforce our city’s commitment to global justice and sustainability," said Mayor Newsom. "Once completed, the United Nations center can serve as an anchor for other sustainable businesses at the Shipyard in much the same way that the University of California and the Stem Cell Institute have anchored Mission Bay’s burgeoning biotech and life sciences cluster." Read more