Yucaipa, Calif. and Houston, June 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Yucaipa Valley Water District (YVWD) has initiated groundbreaking on its resiliency and clean energy water and wastewater project. The project includes the installation of 7 megawatts (MW) of solar power, a 3.3 MW/13 megawatt hour energy storage system, and 3.2 MW of natural gas generators coupled with microgrid controllers. The program is designed to advance clean energy adoption and the energy efficiency of water management at two key locations: the Yucaipa Valley Regional Water Filtration Facility and the Wochholz Regional Water Recycling Facility. A Southern California-based team from ENGIE North America (ENGIE) will manage the construction, ownership, and operation of the systems.

“This project marks a significant step forward in YVWD’s commitment to sustainability and energy resilience, ensuring reliable and efficient water services for the community,” said Joseph Zoba, General Manager from YVWD. "With the increase in power outages and PSPS across California, communities are facing enormous pressure to adapt and find new ways to ensure that critical operations are not impacted by grid outages. This project will enable YVWD to provide much-needed resiliency and reliability during power outages, ensuring our community remains safe and operational.”

The YVWD manages over 220 miles of drinking water pipelines and provides a combination of water, sewer, and recycled water connections to more than 22,000 ratepayers in the Inland Empire. The project will significantly improve the District’s capacity to serve residents, keep rates stable, and hedge against rising energy costs. It is designed to meet the District’s long-term resiliency goals and ensure safe, reliable power to key facilities during public safety power shutoff (PSPS) events. In Yucaipa Valley, a historically fire-prone region of Southern California, the community has faced increasing risks, managing fires nearly every two years.

“We are proud to work with Yucaipa Valley Water District to make the community’s critical infrastructure more resilient. By leveraging project savings, ENGIE is able to deliver critical facilities' resiliency and reduce energy costs significantly,” said Courtney Jenkins, Vice President of Energy Solutions from ENGIE North America. “This initiative is projected to create $82 million in net savings after covering all costs over the 28-year agreement. The environmental impact of this project is substantial, with a carbon emissions reduction equivalent to removing 2,105 cars from the road annually.”

Following a project launch event at the Water Filtration Facility in May, YVWD celebrated the start of facility work at the Regional Water Recycling Facility during a groundbreaking ceremony this week.

     
About YVWD
Yucaipa Valley Water District is in San Bernardino County California. The District service area includes properties in Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Yucaipa and Calimesa. Yucaipa Valley Water District is in YVWD is a special district whose core mission is to provide reliable water and wastewater service to a 40 square-mile region with 223 miles of drinking water pipelines and 27 reservoirs with 34 million gallons of storage capacity.

About ENGIE North America
Based in Houston, Texas, ENGIE North America Inc. is a regional hub of ENGIE, a global leader in low-carbon energy and services. ENGIE (ENGI), is listed on the Paris and Brussels Stock Exchanges. Together with our 97,000 employees around the globe, our customers, partners and stakeholders, we are committed to accelerate the transition toward a carbon-neutral world, through reduced energy consumption and more environmentally friendly solutions. Inspired by our purpose, we reconcile economic performance with a positive impact on people and the planet, building on our key businesses (gas, renewable energy, services) to offer competitive solutions to our customers. In North America, ENGIE helps our clients achieve their energy efficiency, reliability, and ultimately, their sustainability goals, as we work together to shape a sustainable future. We accomplish this through: energy efficiency projects, providing energy supply (including renewables and natural gas), and the development, construction and operation of renewable energy assets (wind, solar, storage and more). For more information on ENGIE North America, please visit our LinkedIn page or Twitter feed, https://www.engie-na.com/ and https://www.engie.com.

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• Yucaipa Valley Water District