Sludge Watch ==> Liberty Energy Plans to Use Sludge for Fuel - watch news video

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Here is a news video from KGET TV in Kern County California.  There is some 
interesting footage of how sludge can be used to save fuel costs and 
generate energy.  At a time when land application of sludge is coming under 
fire, this proposal provides another venue of sludge management.


http://www.kget.com/mediacenter/default.aspx?videoId=9990@video.kget.com

Here also is a story about PG & E the California power company in its press 
release on providing energy from renewable sources...including energy from 
sludge biomass.

You might want to put this link in your web browser to read it since there 
is a chart that will not format in this text version.

http://www.pge.com/news/news_releases/q2_2006/060516.html

News ReleaseSkip these links to continue with rest of content.Release Date: 
May 16, 2006

Contact: PG&E News Department (415) 973-8709

Pacific Gas and Electric Company Adds More Renewable Energy to Customer 
Electric Mix
Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced it has secured an 
additional 105 megawatts (MW) of clean, renewable energy resources


SAN FRANCISCO – Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced it has 
secured an additional 105 megawatts (MW) of clean, renewable energy 
resources to help meet its customers’ future electricity needs. These 
resources will add enough generation to supply nearly 80,000 PG&E customers 
with clean, reliable renewable energy. “PG&E continues to diversify its 
energy supply with new, renewable electricity resources it purchases on 
behalf of its customers,” said Fong Wan, vice president of energy supply. 
“The addition of these renewable energy resources ensures that more than 30 
percent of our northern and central California customers’ energy needs will 
come from alternative energy sources.”

The company has submitted three long term power purchase agreements to the 
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for regulatory review. The 
three agreements result from PG&E’s 2005 Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) 
procurement solicitation and satisfy the company’s obligation to increase 
its procurement of eligible renewable generating resources by 1 percent of 
load per year to achieve a 20 percent renewables goal. PG&E anticipates 
further contract procurement stemming from the 2005 solicitation.

PG&E has a long history of developing, generating, and purchasing renewable 
power. The utility currently supplies 30 percent of its customer load from 
alternative resources: 18 percent from its large hydroelectric facilities 
and 12 percent from smaller renewable resources that qualify under the RPS 
Program.

The three new contracts are:

Description of Renewable Energy ProjectsGenerating Facility Type Length MW 
Capacity Location
Liberty Biofuels                           Biofuels            15 years      
                    5-10      Lost Hills
Bottle Rock                                Geothermal       10 years         
                 55        Ukiah
HFI                                            Biomass           10 years    
                      40 La Pine, Oregon
Total     100-105

PG&E will soon be issuing its next Request for Offers (RFO) to solicit 
renewable energy on behalf of its 5 million electric customers. In this 
upcoming 2006 renewable energy procurement solicitation, the company is 
seeking to procure an additional 1-2 percent of its customers' electricity 
needs through renewable sources

PG&E anticipates issuing the solicitation in early June, with offers being 
due in late July. The 2006 RPS solicitation will be PG&E's fourth 
competitive solicitation for renewable energy since 2002. Since then, it has 
entered into contracts for 563 MW of renewable power from wind, geothermal, 
biomass, and hydro resources, including the three agreements submitted to 
the CPUC.
Fong Wan continued, “In our upcoming solicitation, we look forward to 
building on our success, and continuing to add to a generating portfolio 
that already has one of the lowest rates of air emissions in the country."

Copies of the 2006 Solicitation Protocol, Power Purchase Agreements, and 
related information and materials will be available upon issuance of the 
solicitation on PG&E’s website at
http://www.pge.com/renewableRFO.

California’s RPS Program requires each utility to increase its procurement 
of eligible renewable generating resources by 1 percent of load per year to 
achieve a 20 percent renewables goal. The RPS Program was passed by the 
Legislature and is managed by the CPUC and the California Energy Commission.

For more information about Pacific Gas and Electric Company, please visit 
the company’s web site at www.pge.com