San Francisco will source about 5% of its electricity from a Merced County wind farm within two years, as part of an agreement local environmental officials say will accelerate The City’s transition away from fossil fuels.
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission officials announced Wednesday that they signed a purchasing agreement with Colorado-based Scout Clean Energy, allowing the public agency to buy electricity produced by the company’s Gonzaga Ridge wind project a few hours to San Francisco’s southeast.
While the turbines will come on at the end of the month, San Francisco’s project isn’t expected to come online until May 2026, at which point it will provide 147.5 megawatts of wind energy to CleanPowerSF’s 385,000 customers , or nearly double the current amount. A four-hour battery energy storage system will store 50 megawatts of energy during the day for use in the evening, which SFPUC officials said is when power from the grid is costlier and more reliant on gas.
Jackie Randazzo, a senior communications specialist with the agency, said the project “will meet approximately 5%” of The City’s total electricity demand. SFPUC general manager Dennis Herrera said the project will provide CleanPowerSF with its largest source of wind power in the program’s history.