Marine Electronics
Follow: 
The Port of West Sacramento has plans to become one of the greenest in the country. To that end it has just completed the installation, at no cost, of a 647 kilowatt solar system. The new system is expected to save the facility $20,000 in energy costs annually. With 3,536 solar panels, the new system will also eliminate over 34 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 25 years.
Pacific Power Management (PPM) of Auburn California installed the new system. That company has been winning solar contracts in California with a capital-investment-free program. According to the company, “All of our systems are lowering energy costs for our customers. Every PPM power purchase agreement to date is proof that our customers can have the economic and environmental benefits of green energy without the capital investment.” The company effectively installs a solar plant at the customer’s site, and then charges an electric rate that is guaranteed to be less than the current electric provider rates. PPM works with the client to select and build the optimum solar system for the facility.
With the new solar plant at the Sacramento facility, PPM is said to have become the largest supplier of solar power in Yolo County, California. Besides the port, its other customers include California Fuel Cell Partnership in West Sacramento, University Honda in Davis, Mid-Pacific Industries in Woodland, and multiple gas stations owned by Nella Oil Company.
Besides this solar facility, another one has been in the works for the port. According to the Sacramento Business Journal, Navarra, Spain-based Otras Producciones de Energia Fotovoltaico (OPDE) has leased land at the Port of West Sacramento for a 24 megawatt solar facility. According to the journal, the lease will generate an estimated $300,000 to $500,000 yearly revenue for the port.
The solar facility is to cost $175 million; and when built is expected to be the largest solar plant facility in the United States. On top of that, Otras has also moved its United States solar headquarters from the San Francisco Bay Area to West Sacramento. The company’s Mecasolar division will build tracking systems that will be used at the solar plant.
The Port of Sacramento also is involved in a plan to implement a marine highway container barge system with the Port of Oakland and the Port of Stockton. That project is being funded with a $30 million grant through the United States federal stimulus program. Part of the project is to deepen the channel so that larger boats will be able to make it into the port. With this improvement, the port is expected to reduce the number of trucks traveling between the Port of Oakland and the Port of Sacramento by 23,000 annually.
The PSW has also focused its efforts on green tenants. It recently approved a permit for Enlinga, a wood pellet energy company to build a plant at the port. The plant will have an estimated production capacity of 170,000 tons of wood pellets a year. The wood pellets are to be used as an environmentally friendly coal substitute and for an energy plant at the port. The pellets will also be shipped to Asia, Canada and Europe. Estimated revenue for the plant is pegged at $1.1 million a year.
Another company, Primafuel, with operations in California and Europe, has proposed a biofuel production, storage and distribution facility at the port.
One of the major goals of the Port of West Sacramento has been not only to encourage environmentally friendly manufacturing, but also green shipping at the port facility. Green shipping refers to boats that are non-polluting, and to their freight. The port focuses on ships that carry freight that is used in the construction of green energy systems.
