"In the 1980s and 1990s, the Geysers and geothermal energy were very popular, but in the 1990s there was a depletion of (water at) the Geysers and the whole resource was in jeopardy," said Claudia Chandler of the California Energy Commission. Like the steam rising from the hot springs at the site, the Geysers vanished from the public eye for many years until a new source of water was secured."
What was left unsaid...known only by locals...
SR to boost Geysers wastewater 35%
By MIKE MCCOY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
In a deal described as a win-win-win for Santa Rosa, Calpine and the environment, the City Council approved an agreement Tuesday to increase the amount of wastewater pumped to The Geysers by 35 percent.
“This puts the city in position to recycle 95¬percent of its wastewater. That is unprecedented for a city of its size,” said Dave Smith, a city consultant on reuse efforts.
The agreement will extend by four years the city’s contract to pump wastewater to The Geysers to 2037, and calls for a gradual increase in the amount pumped over the next 30 years.
The original contract called for the city to pump 11 million gallons a day, or 4 billion gallons a year, to the steam fields where it is injected underground to produce steam, which is converted to electricity by Calpine, the city’s partner in the project.
Deputy City Manager Greg Scoles said since the project went into operation in December 2003, 15 billion gallons of wastewater that otherwise would have been discharged into the Laguna de Santa Rosa and Russian River have been used to generate electricity.
The agreement calls for the city to increase its daily pumping to 12.6 million gallons a day by this winter and to almost 16 million gallons a day sometime in the distant future.
The revised deal drew only accolades and unanimous approval at Tuesday’s meeting.
Pat Barnes, Rohnert Park’s deputy city engineer, said his city “strongly supports” the agreement. Santa Rosa runs the regional sewage treatment system on behalf of itself, Rohnert Park, Cotati and Sebastopol
“We believe it’s the right thing for the environment, the right thing for ratepayers, and it’s the right thing for green power,” he said.
Windsor Town Manager Matt Mullan, whose city has an agreement with Santa Rosa to use the pipeline to ship its wastewater to nearby vineyards and potentially The Geysers, also hailed the agreement.
“We support the production of high-quality, clean-burning energy,” he said.
Scoles said increased pumping to The Geysers will reduce the amount of effluent the city discharges into the laguna by 70 percent most years and to zero discharge in some years.
That will not only help the city meet stricter state discharge standards but also could save up to $200 million that the city might have had to spend to shift its main discharge location to the Russian River and build additional storage reservoirs for other disposal options.
The project also should help Calpine, which has been in bankruptcy since 2005.
The Geysers project is one of the company’s most profitable assets, and its amended contract with the city is scheduled to be reviewed by a federal bankruptcy court on Sept. 11.
If the court approves the deal, Scoles said, the city could begin pumping more wastewater almost immediately.
Estimates are the wastewater the city has been pumping to Calpine generates 68 megawatts of power, enough to power 68,000 homes.
Calpine estimates the extra wastewater it will receive in later years will be enough to boost its power production to 85 megawatts.
That would power 85,000 homes — roughly Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park combined.
The city’s cost to boost its pumping capacity will run around $2.3 million.
The deal calls for Calpine to pay the city $300,000 for the first 15 years, an amount city officials said should cover the annual cost to pump the extra wastewater to The Geysers.
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