SAN RAFAEL (BUSINESS WIRE) — Calpine Corporation and Marin Clean Energy (MCE) today announced a new three-year agreement under which Calpine will deliver electric energy from Calpine’s Delta Energy Center and other of its Northern California facilities through 2017. These facilities are part of Calpine’s next generation of reduced-emission power plants fueled by natural gas.
This agreement will help support 25 full-time jobs at Calpine’s Delta Energy Center and will also supply enough electric power to serve the average energy requirements of approximately 98,000 residential customers during the contract term. By switching from unspecified power sources to cleaner generating alternatives, such as Calpine’s Delta Energy Center, MCE will achieve an approximate 11% reduction in attributed carbon emissions for each MWh delivered by Calpine to MCE.
San Rafael, CA – By closing out a building lease in San Rafael and consolidating staff into a nearby County-owned building, Marin County taxpayers will save $710,000 annually starting next year.
The Marin County Board of Supervisors recently accepted a final report on Emergency Operations Facility (EOF) project, the new home to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office at 1600 Los Gamos Drive in Terra Linda, and congratulated staff involved in the building’s transformation. The EOF project was completed on time and on budget in June 2014 after more than $50 million in improvements were made to make the public safety headquarters more resistant to a large earthquake than the Sheriff’s previous home at the Marin County Civic Center.
San Rafael planning commissioners are concerned Whistlestop’s $25 million plan to build a five-story affordable senior housing and services center in downtown is too massive and poses parking problems.
Whistlestop has partnered with Hayward-based Eden Housing, an affordable housing building and management company, to propose building a new senior center, new café, parking garage, 47 senior housing apartments and one apartment for a building manager on Tamalpais Avenue. Members of the commission had their first opportunity to provide feedback on the project Tuesday during a conceptual design review of the structure before an application is filed.
The North Bay economy is expected to experience continued growth as a diverse mix of industries expand, but the region struggles to attract and retain leading businesses in technology, according to a Sonoma State University economist.
And short of a major geopolitical issue arising, the American economy should continue to grow in 2015 at a rate of about 3 percent in real terms, with similar forecasts for 2016 and 2017, according to Robert Eyler, Ph.D., SSU economics professor and director of the institution’s Center for Regional Economic Analysis. He is set to discuss these metrics at the Sonoma State University Economic Outlook Conference in Santa Rosa on Wednesday.
Statement: “It’s been incredible to watch the outcome of the programs in Sonoma and Marin because they’ve been extremely successful and they’ve been able to provide lower rates to all residences and all businesses in Marin and Sonoma with a higher renewable energy content,” Climate Action Campaign executive director Nicole Capretz said during a Jan. 25 appearance on NBC San Diego’s “Politically Speaking.”
Determination: True
Analysis: A handful of California communities have opted to stop relying solely on utilities to buy energy. San Diego environmentalists want that option to exist here.
Tomorrow, Enphase will announce that it has jumped into the operations and maintenance (O&M) business in a big way with the acquisition of Next Phase Solar, a provider of O&M services for the PV solar industry. NPS has a portfolio of more than 400 megawatts, split about 70 percent commercial solar and 30 percent residential.
Founded in 2009 and helmed by Adam Burstein, Next Phase has “a staff of trained field service engineers and technicians spread across America.” The firm has about 30 employees, a strong East Coast presence and thousands of PV sites under contract for field services including asset management, warranty compliance, solar array cleaning and system commissioning. The transaction price of the deal was not disclosed.
With outlets in Novato, Corte Madera and Tiburon, Marin-based Paradise Foods has been sold to a family-owned grocery chain headquartered in Yolo County, the company’s CEO announced last week.
Paradise Foods, with roughly 200 employees, was sold to Nugget Markets, a Sacramento Valley grocery chain with 12 stores in the region. Paradise CEO David Gilmour made the announcement at a luncheon.
“I am thrilled to have found a strong retailer [Nugget Markets] that will continue to offer my employees a dynamic culture and a secure work environment, while maintaining a strong focus on quality perishables, local and organic groceries, and or community,” Gilmour said.
The following is a news release from the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit:
Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) announced Monday that based on recommendation from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, the President’s FY 2016 budget recommends $20 million to complete construction of SMART’s rail extension to Larkspur. If approved by the Congress, the funding will come to the region as part of the highly competitive nationwide Federal Transit Administration Small Starts grant program.
Previously, Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) had recommended $11M towards the $40M Downtown San Rafael to Larkspur extension project. Based on that recommendation the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) increased the amount to $20M and urged the Secretary of Transportation to fund the remaining amount and ranked SMART’s project as one of the Bay Area’s top priority for Federal funding. Upon approval of the President’s budget by the U.S. Congress; the Larkspur extension is now fully funded.
The Preserve at Marin luxury rental housing complex was officially reopened Friday after a two-year, nearly $80 million transformation of a vacant 126-unit apartment complex overlooking the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge.
Denver-based Apartment Investment and Management Co. (NYSE: AIV), or Aimco, completed the renovation of four of the seven buildings in summer and recently finished the rest.
The units are half-occupied so far, according to an Aimco spokeswoman.
A Sprouts Farmers Market grocery store is set to open April 15 in San Rafael.
The grocery store plans to use a 24,230-square-foot space in the Shamrock Center at 655 Irwin St. to set up shop next to Staples, according to city planning documents.
Pacific Sales, a Best Buy-owned household appliance store, vacated the building late last year when it moved into the northern portion of the Home Depot Yardbirds site at 1801 Fourth St. in San Rafael. The Irwin Street building was previously occupied by CompUSA.
Sprouts representatives said the store will likely employ about 100 people.
