On Feb 20 the SD Renewable Energy Society had  Bill Powers presenting his proposal titled "San Diego Smart Energy 2020".  This San Diego Foundation funded report is now climbing through the ranks of SANDAG, the CPUC and soon the Senate Energy Committee.  Bill Powers is an electrical engineer, and owner of Powers Engineering a transmission expert for Sierra Club, and is the Sierra Club representative to the Energy Working Group (EWG) of SANDAG.

 

The Smart Energy plan is touted as an alternative to SDG&E's controversial Sunrise Powerlink.  If implemented, the plan would add 2040MW rooftop and parking lot PV by 2020, would almost triple the capacity of Combined Heat and Power plants in the county, and would reduce electric demand by 20% due to efficiency improvements. 

 

SDRES thinks this is an important proposal and we want to give it a fair hearing and are making it into a two part mini-series.  Bill was given the floor on Feb 20th and answered audience questions.


At the March 12th program meeting, SDRES will have a panel of experts in the four key areas of the proposal.  The panel will attempt to vet the report and will interact with Bill.  Hopefully, this interaction will clarify the important assumptions of the study and review the expected results.  We hope that the outcome of this interaction will enable a larger audience to understand and hopefully give the report its full support. You are encouraged to download the proposal at http://sdsmartenergy.org/smart.shtml  and come prepared to ask questions yourself.

 

Powers has done a lot of hard work, and you, as SDRES stakeholders, have a chance to participate in the evolution of this work and its acceptance as something we all can support.

 

Invite a friend and come early to get a seat.  The program runs from 7-9 PM on Wednesday, March 12th at the California Center for Sustainable Energy, 8690 Balboa Ave #100.  

Starting with March 12 all future programs will be on the second Wednesday each month so pencil this in your calendar.

 

Skip Fralick

Program Chair

San Diego Renewable Energy Society