Business Network Event: How Advanced Geothermal Power Can Help Meet California’s Climate Goals

Join us for a discussion about the potential for geothermal energy to provide clean, affordable electricity across California. Electricity demand is at an all-time high. State efforts to electrify the transportation and building sectors, plus the massive data centers needed to support Artificial Intelligence (AI), mean that demand is only expected to grow in the next couple of decades. Geothermal energy may be part of the solution.

Geothermal energy holds immense potential as a clean, reliable, and virtually inexhaustible source of 24/7, round-the-clock power. Advanced geothermal systems, which utilize new technologies to maximize heat extraction from the Earth’s subsurface, offer a particularly promising avenue for expansion within the renewable energy sector because they can be located almost anywhere and have smaller footprints than traditional geothermal plants.

Sonoma Clean Power has taken the lead on planning a new geothermal vision for California. At this event, CEO Geof Syphers will share why geothermal energy is so critical for an efficient, clean, and reliable energy system and what the potential is for Sonoma County and California. We will hear a policy update on three advanced geothermal energy bills moving through the state legislature right now. Barry Vesser, COO of The Climate Center, will discuss how we keep electricity affordable while moving the state more rapidly to a clean energy economy (see our recent report) and which current legislation will move us in this direction. 

The presentation will be followed by questions and answers, lunch, and time to network with your peers. 

Hosted in partnership with Sonoma Clean Power. This event is by invitation only. Registration is required, please register below.

Speakers

Geof Syphers

CEO, Sonoma Clean Power

Geof Syphers is the Chief Executive Officer of Sonoma Clean Power, a position he has held since the program’s inception in 2013. Under his leadership, Sonoma Clean Power now serves 600,000 people throughout Sonoma and Mendocino counties with cleaner power at competitive rates. Before his current position, Mr. Syphers worked for 20 years as an energy consultant to utilities, public agencies, and private companies. His work has spanned microgrid design, zero-carbon community design, and energy efficiency program implementation. He served as the Chief Sustainability Officer for Codding Enterprises and was the founding Director of DNV’s Green Building Group.

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Logan Pitts

Legislative Director for Assemblymember Chris Rogers

Logan Pitts currently serves as the legislative director for Assemblymember Chris Rogers, helping to cover the policy portfolios of energy, transportation, natural resources, along with other topics, and first began working for the State Legislature in 2009. Logan has volunteered or worked professionally on political campaigns from the Presidential level down to local school boards. He is a proud graduate of Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University, where he earned degrees in Political Science.

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Ellie Cohen

Chief Executive Officer

Ellie Cohen, CEO of The Climate Center, is a leader in catalyzing cross-boundary, collaborative and just solutions to climate change and environmental degradation. Most recently, Ellie served as President and CEO of Point Blue Conservation Science where she and the organization’s 160+ scientists worked with hundreds of public and private partners to develop climate-smart solutions for wildlife and people.

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Woody Hastings

Phase Out Polluting Fuels Program Director

Woody Hastings is an energy and environmental policy analyst, strategic planner, and community organizer with over thirty years of experience in the non-profit, governmental, and private sectors.  Woody has been with The Climate Center since 2010 when he was hired to help lead the formation of what became California’s second Community Choice Agency (CCA), Sonoma Clean Power (SCP). After the launch of SCP Woody worked to expand CCA in other parts of California.

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