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Located near Coalinga, the solar-biofuel projects will deliver a total of 700 gigawatt hours (GWh) annually of renewable electricity to PG&E customers throughout northern and central California.
“This hybrid technology combines two renewable resources abundant in California – solar energy and biofuel from the Central Valley,” said Fong Wan, vice president of energy procurement at PG&E. “We will continue to add these types of innovative renewable energy sources to our power mix as we work to provide our customers with some of the cleanest energy in the nation and meet our state’s climate change goals.”
Martifer’s renewable hybrid projects combine Luz solar thermal trough technology and steam turbines powered by biomass fuel to produce hybrid solar-biofuel renewable electricity. The incorporation of biofuel increases the overall production of renewable power by allowing for around-the-clock production of clean energy, even at night or when sunlight is not at its strongest.
Each hybrid project will require 250,000 tons of biofuel annually, to be supplied from a combination of locally-produced agricultural wastes, green wastes and livestock manure. These projects are expected to begin operation in 2011.
“Martifer and its development partners have designed a creative renewable energy system that is cost-competitive with conventional generation technologies,” said Ricardo Abecassis, president of Martifer Renewables Solar. “We expect these and future Martifer projects will increase the level of clean, affordable, renewable energy in California while at the same time alleviating the pressure on agricultural producers and municipalities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.”
“The City of Coalinga is delighted to welcome this renewable energy project which will benefit the environment and create local jobs,” said Coalinga Mayor Trish Hill. “In addition to increasing the amount of clean, renewable energy for our residents, it will help to improve air quality through utilizing locally-sourced biomass, including livestock manure.”
The contracts filed today with the California Public Utilities Commission are part of PG&E’s broader renewable energy portfolio. Since 2002, PG&E has entered into contracts for over 2,500 MW of renewable power. California law requires each investor-owned utility to increase the share of eligible renewable generating resources in its electric power portfolio to 20 percent by 2010. PG&E has made contractual commitments to have over 20 percent of its future deliveries from renewables. For 2008, PG&E expects to have 14 percent of its energy delivered from renewable sources.
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LAKE COUNTY – On Saturday and Sunday, June 7 and 8, the Lake County Marketing and Economic Development Program exhibited at the 11th annual Sunset Celebration Weekend, an event presented by Sunset Magazine, a monthly travel and lifestyle magazine focused on living in the West.
The event was held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days at the publication's headquarters facility and test garden in Menlo Park.
The Lake County Marketing and Economic Development Program hosted a booth that promoted Lake County as a nearby travel destination to event goers with an inviting booth display that included professional backdrops with eye-catching photographs of Lake County scenery and activities and literature racks with key visitor materials that showcased all there is to see, do, and experience in Lake County – from farm trails and water activities to upcoming events and places to stay, as well as an emphasis on Lake County's growing wine industry.
Lake County's success at the event was due in large part to partnership with both the Lake County Winery Association and the Lake County Winegrape Commission.
Throughout the weekend, representatives from the Lake County Winery Association poured Lake County wines for event goers to sample. All Lake County wines poured at the event were donated by local wineries, and the proceeds from the tasting fees collected by Sunset are donated to the Children's Health Council.
The Lake County Winegrape Commission generously donated an impressive prize package for a raffle drawing, and many who visited the Lake County booth entered to win. The package included a limousine tour to five Lake County wineries, overnight lodging, and a stylish picnic basket set.
Sunset Celebration Weekend was designed to provide the Bay Area public in general, and Sunset Magazine readers in particular, an opportunity to see the pages of Sunset Magazine come alive – with exhibitors focused on travel, home, garden, food, wine, and even an "eco" area focused on products and ideas for sustainable living.
Major sponsors included Chrysler, Kraft, Mondavi, Safeway, and Weber, among others. Event goers sampled and tasted, asked questions, watched demonstrations, and participated in all sorts of hands-on activities – from garden projects to lei-making.
Many travel destinations exhibited at the event. The California Travel and Tourism Commission hosted a booth, and Lake County was one of many California travel destinations exhibiting at the event – from Humboldt County, Sacramento, and Monterey County to Morro Bay, Pismo Beach and Santa Maria.
Lake County was featured as a travel destination in the May 2007 issue of Sunset Magazine, and several event goers who stopped by the Lake County booth remembered having seen the feature article.
Although final attendance figures are not yet available for this year's event, figures given for the prior year were approximately 20,000 attendees over two days.
The Lake County Marketing Program is a division of the County Administrative Office and promotes tourism to and commerce in Lake County. For more information, contact the Lake County Marketing and Economic Development Program at 263-2580.
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In this post, Visconti will be in charge of Langtry Estate and Guenoc wine brand sales across the Midwest from Illinois to Texas as far west as Colorado.
Based in Michigan, Visconti has more than 25 years of experience in wine sales.
Before joining Langtry, Visconti was the Michigan state manager for Fosters Wine Estates (formerly Beringer Blass). There he was in charge of sales in the state of Michigan for Fosters’ various wine brands, including Beringer, Lindemans, Wolf Blass, Penfolds, Rosemount, Stag's Leap and Chateau St. Jean.
Previous to working with Fosters, Visconti was the Midwest regional sales manager for Southcorp Wines for nearly 10 years. Bob also has worked at the distributor tier as sales manager for General Wine and Liquor and J. Lewis Cooper Co.
He holds a degree in business from Central Michigan University, and he is the founder and former president of the Detroit Wine Organization, a nonprofit committed to wine education.
“Bob’s many years of experience in wine sales covering all of these states will provide much needed focus and better partnerships with our distributors in the Midwest to Central division as Langtry Estate and Vineyards continues to grow,” said Langtry’s president Tim Matz.
Langtry Estate and Vineyards has extensive vineyard holdings in Lake County as well as holdings in Napa and is the largest winegrower in the region. The picturesque estate consists of 21,000 acres and straddles Lake and Napa counties. Langtry Estate and Guenoc wines are distributed nationally. Additional information on the winery is available at www.langtryestate.com or by calling (707) 987-2385.
Langtry Estate & Vineyards is located at 21000 Butts Canyon Road, Middletown.
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On Sunday, June 1, the Tallman Hotel is celebrating its second birthday.
Owners Lynn and Bernie Butcher opened the reconstructed, historic hotel on June 1, 2006.
As part of this month's celebration, the hotel is offering past guests a special room upgrade offer, which is only available by calling the Hotel at 866-708-5253 or locally at 707-275-2244.
Also this month, Blue Wing Monday Blues continues every Monday from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. next door at the Butchers' Blue Wing Saloon and Cafe.
On Sundays, the Blue Wing hosts brunch in the garden with live music on the veranda by local artists.
The Blue Wing is hosting a “Meet the Winemaker Series,” with free wine tasting in the saloon and dinner paired with featured wines on the first Thursday of every month.
On Thursday, June 5, meet winemaker Greg Graziano of Graziano Wines and wwner Jim and MJ Scott of Naughty Boy Vineyards in Potter Valley.
The series will continue in July with at Tulip Hill Winery down the road in Nice.
Events will continue through the summer, with the Blue Wing Blues Festival returning Aug. 6 through 9.
Co-sponsored by Ceago Vinegarden, the festival features four evenings of wonderful blues music plus barbecue dinner in the garden of the hotel from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. each evening.
Featured artists include Charlie Musselwhite, Bettie Mae Fikes, the Ford Blues Band and, on Saturday night, Maria Muldaur and the Red Hot Bluesiana Band.
For more information contact the Blue Wing Saloon and Cafe at 707-275-2233 or visit them online at www.bluewingsaloon.com/.
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