Petaluma plans for energy resiliency

Reeling from October’s power shut offs, Petaluma is reexamining its energy sources ahead of the next fire season, an effort that is forcing the city to step on the gas in creating sustainable energy resiliency.

Just last year the city declared a climate emergency, created the Climate Action Commission and named climate change a top priority, launching a new and comprehensive regime ahead of an unprecedented test of its energy system.

“Our long-term goals over sustainability and the conversation about how to be more resilient in the face of these public safety power shut offs are in lockstep, it couldn’t be more perfect timing,” said City Manager Peggy Flynn. “It’s unfortunate we’re dealing with PG&E shut offs, but they just amplify the need to address resiliency.”

She said the whole city, from the commission level to city council and staff, is joining jurisdictions throughout the county in finding out how to approach resiliency.

An increasingly trending term in the energy world, resiliency refers broadly to the ability to prepare for and withstand significant power disruptions. For Petaluma and many cities in California, this also means incorporating sustainable, carbon-neutral resiliency. State law mandates all electricity be carbon-neutral by 2045, and cities like Petaluma and a few others in Sonoma County are eager to get a head start.

In this push to be more energy prepared, the city is balancing potentially conflicting timelines as it looks to immediately shore up independent energy sources that are also sustainable without the aid of a comprehensive energy action plan.

Flynn said although the city is in the early stages of encouraging sustainable energy policies amidst a backdrop of looming power shut offs, she thinks the timing, though inconvenient, pushes the topic to the forefront of public discussion and city agendas.

“There’s very little I know of that the city has done on behalf of resiliency,” said Climate Action commissioner and energy expert Panama Bartholomy. “I think half of this is because the Climate Action Commission is very new and is still getting its footing.”

A Climate Action Commission subcommittee is currently working to draft the city’s climate action and adaptation plan, and early goals include a microgrid pilot, going all electric and requiring solar on new buildings. Commissioners are also scheduled to discuss updating reach codes to include more stringent energy efficiency requirements to minimize greenhouse gas emissions as part of its long-term strategy.

Yet immediate needs remain, and grow more urgent as the calendar again creeps toward fire season.

For a few community members and local climate activists, the city’s recent purchase of diesel generators illustrates how an urgency to create energy reserves safe from the whims of PG&E can potentially run the risk of undermining longer-term goals.

Resident and solar industry professional Ben Peters said the purchase highlights the need for a city-wide energy plan that incorporates its climate action and sustainability priorities, especially as wildfires and weather events cause public safety emergencies for Petaluma.

“I wish our leaders were more proactive and had a vision for the future, and I’m not sure that’s the case today,” Peters said. “Energy resiliency is really a component of a broader energy plan, in the same way you can have a climate action plan, we can have an energy plan, even an energy manager.”

While a group of climate activists continues to voice a need for even more action, the city this month approved a solar project and is gearing up for a discussion this spring over electrification - either phasing out or banning natural gas in new home construction in order to move to more sustainable sources. A developer is suing Santa Rosa over such a ban.

This month the city approved a project by developer Forefront Power to construct large solar arrays on four city properties, however, the project drew criticism for its lack of energy storage. Encouraged by city council members, staff is instead turning to potential opportunities on other city properties for solar power storage, a microgrid, capable of creating a needed energy source that also ticks the sustainability box.

Flynn said staff is gearing up to propose electrification policies to council in late March or early April, with the Climate Action Commission slated to weigh in on the matter in February.

“Cities are looking at this, and are presented with a choice,” Bartholomy said. “We can build out using clean electricity, or expand the natural gas and fossil fuel network.”

Although the concept of electrification is exciting for many of Petaluma’s climate activists, Flynn cautioned that the city also has a commitment to ensuring these types of overhauls, though positive, don’t negatively impact residents.

“We’ve got to have equitable electrification policies to make sure this doesn’t hit our residents’ pockets books, to make sure that the things that are being built are resilient for every income level and demographic,” Flynn said. “I think when we often hear of going all electric or putting solar on houses or looking at clean energy there’s also a cost, so it’s incumbent on leaders to look at equitable policies.”