SONOMA CLEAN POWER
‘Thinking Generationally’: SCP and the decade ahead Sonoma Clean Power looks to the future, while keeping an eye on the present
By Jason Walsh I t’s been a rough year for planet Earth. Worldwide carbon dioxide emissions in 2024 reached 37.4 billion metric tons—surpassing the previous record set in 2023. Last year, global average temperatures exceeded the 20th century average by 2.3 degrees. In fact, 2024 was the warmest year on record. Even with the successes clean energy agencies like Sonoma Clean Power have achieved over the past 10 years, their tasks ahead have never been more daunting, nor the stakes higher. Still, the promise of renewable energy seems boundless. From the ongoing completion of solar and wind projects to the newfound popularity of electric cars to the potential of new geothermal technologies, it’s an exciting time to be in the renewable energy business. Geof Syphers, CEO of Sonoma Clean Power, says part of the agency’s first 10 years has been about setting the groundwork for the decades to come. “The past decade was about financing the construction of new wind, solar and battery projects,” Syphers says. The next decade, he says, will have a focus on building new geothermal power. “New geothermal technology allows us to recycle water in a loop and extract heat from the ground to make power, but it will also allow us to stop paying natural gas power plants to keep the lights on at night.” Syphers
CEO Syphers (aka 'Dr. Zapmaster') educates a group of kids about electricity.
the other hand, runs all the time—and having a broad mix of power sources is vital for affordability, he says. That focus on affordability will continue to be a priority for Sonoma Clean Power in the coming years. Syphers says SCP plans to step up its advocacy before the state public utilities commission and monitor any PG&E rate increases for errors. “We want to be sure rate payers are only paying what they should be paying,” he says. Another component of sustainability SCP is focused upon is one of mindset—changing the narrative of how climate progress is viewed. As the agency describes in its decade-anniversary book, 10 Electric Years , changing the narrative is about “focus[ing] on impacts, not technologies.” “We have never said a technology, or an incentive, is going to solve a problem—we try to find the absolute goal,” Syphers says. As an example, electric vehicles are a means toward decreasing the burning of fossil fuels, but they’re not the goal itself. Syphers adds, “We can promote electric cars while recognizing that they still cause traffic, cost too much and need exotic materials like lithium to build. That means we’re also advocating for bicycling, transit and other solutions to the same problem.”
says one of the most valuable power sources locally are the geysers. “When you buy solar and wind, it only runs when the sun shines and the wind blows,” he explains. “So you always have to pay for a share of a natural-gas- fired power
plant—that’s getting very expensive.” Geothermal, on
Clean technologies are important steps toward greater climate solutions.
2025
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