South San Joaquin Irrigation District

The South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID), located in Southern San Joaquin County, California, was formed in 1909. It was established to provide a reliable and affordable source of irrigation water for 72,000 acres of agricultural area surrounding Escalon, Ripon, and Manteca, California. In 2005, as unprecedented urban growth replaced agricultural land, the district expanded into providing domestic water service to South San Joaquin County cities with its state-of-the-art membrane filtration water treatment plant.

SSJID’s historic water rights allow for several hydroelectric power plants on a series of dams and reservoirs on the Stanislaus River. SSJID and Oakdale Irrigation District completed the original Melones Reservoir in 1926, and since 1957 have co-owned the Tri-Dam Project, consisting of Donnells Dam, Beardsley Dam, and Tulloch Dam reservoirs and powerhouses.

The World’s First Single-Axis Solar Tracking System

SSJID recently (dedicated July 18, 2008) completed a 1.4 megawatt solar farm that provides nearly all of the electricity to run its water treatment plant, saving the district over $400,000 annually in power costs. SSJID’s solar farm is recognized as the world’s first single-axis solar tracking system featuring thin-film photovoltaic cells. The tracking system was developed by Conergy, the premier leader in the solar technology field. The District recognized that through this technology, it could not only reduce the electricity costs of its customers, but it could stabilize costs which usually fluctuate seasonally.

“The project’s main goal was to stabilize electrical costs, which can spike substantially in summer months given local time of use (TOU) metering,” said SSJID Utility Systems Director Don Battles. In addition to the project’s $400,000 annual electric bill savings, the solar energy systems provide the District with a hedge against rising utility costs. And, he adds, both projects are hooked into the state’s electrical grid, which means the District will be able to sell its surplus, peak-time energy (another precious commodity) back to the local utility. ROSI (Return On Solar Investment) is an advantage that benefits both companies and residential consumers.

The system that SSJID adopted works to actually track and follow the sun, turning on its central axis for optimum exposure to the sun. “Photovoltaic” means that the sunlight is converted directly to electricity. Conversion rates vary around 15% but by using solar tracking, it is estimated to increase efficiency by 30-40%.

Importance of Irrigation in Drought-Sensitive Areas

In areas of the country like California’s Central Valley, weather changes and recent years of severe drought make growing crops slightly unsteady. However, the Central Valley is one of the world's most productive agricultural regions. In 2002, NPR reported that the Central Valley grows a full 25% of the food that America eats. Irrigation to sustain these crops is paramount to the agricultural economy of the state and the reliance of the entire country. About one-sixth of the irrigated land in the United States is in the Central Valley.

The Central Valley is the primary source for a number of food products throughout the United States, including tomatoes, almonds, grapes, cotton, apricots, and asparagus. The securing of water rights on the Stanislaus River along with Oakdale Irrigation District a century ago is responsible for SSJID being one of the best positioned irrigation districts in California in terms of its ability to deliver adequate water for agricultural and urban users as well as to generate clean hydroelectric power.

SSJID updates and maintains its extensive irrigation system during the winter season, shortly after the area’s almond harvest concludes in October of each year. It is also forging ahead with a state-of-the-art pressurized pipeline system to augment open irrigation canals in the southwest corner of the district south of Manteca. The aim is to reduce the pumping of ground water that has a growing salinity problem, reduce evaporation, cut the use of energy and air pollution, while giving farmers the ability to precisely apply water and nutrients through pressurized drip irrigation systems that in turn can enhance crop production.

When the area experienced a drought, the price of produce can be affected throughout the United States.[1]

Importance of Affordable Utilities

SSJID, as a non-profit utility agency, wants to provide retail electricity to achieve significant cost savings, service improvement and increased reliability to its current agricultural customers, residents, businesses and governmental entities within Manteca, Escalon, Ripon and surrounding rural areas (SSJID’s current service territory). Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), a for-profit, investor-owned utility currently provides electric service to approximately 40,000 customers in the same service territory.

Late in 2009, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) unanimously approved a resolution finding that the proposed South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) plan to purchase PG&E’s electric facilities in Manteca, Ripon, Escalon and surrounding farm land will not significantly impact the remaining PG&E electric ratepayers. The San Joaquin Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo), requested the approval. The resolution is part of the current San Joaquin LAFCo review process required to be complete before LAFCo can finalize its analysis of SSJID’s retail electric plan.

In 2013, the LAFCO asked for another study citing that the other studies were obsolete. The SSJID still awaits the LAFCO's approval. The request for extensive studies has raised some controversy with citizens who recall when neighboring Lathrop Irrigation District went into the power business 13 years ago. The LAFCO granted their request to supply power to a potential 11,000 homes in just four months.[2][3]

After 61 months of studies and debate, the San Joaquin LAFCo has scheduled a final meeting on December 10, 2014.[4][5] As reported in the Manteca Bulletin, "The bottom line of the MSR [Municipal Services Review] finding is that the SSJID plan would not cause an increase in retail electrical customer rates within the SSJID service areas. As proposed, SSJID’s plan would reduce customer rates 15 percent compared to PG&E rates. It also noted projected growth in district reserves should allow SSJID to further lower rates and/or fees for service. If for some reason future conditions do not allow the district to maintain rates 15 percent below PG&E, the MSR concludes the “SSJID could raise rates to offer a lower discount or to match PG&E rates without adversely affecting rates that otherwise would have been paid to PG&E. However, based on financial analysis prepared by Mintner Harnish and MBMC, SSJID’s plan” will be able to deliver the 15 percent discount."

Providing power is not new for SSJID. They have offered wholesale electric power through their Tri-Dam Project they operate with Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) to entities like PG&E since 1957. PG&E had come to depend on SSJID and OID for inexpensive and reliable electricity that they turned around and sold for a large markup to retail customers. In fact, the cost per kilowatt hour of hydro-power coming from the Tri-Dam Project was significantly lower than what PG&E could produce on its own at many of its hydroelectric plants.[6]

Finally, after 63 months, on December 11, 2014, the LAFCO met in Stockton, California and after two days of deliberation, they approved in a 4-1 vote SSJID's proposal to take over retail electric power in their service area. Negotiations will begin to purchase the equipment from PG&E and iron out all specifics.

100 Years Strong

In 1908, A newspaper was created in to cover the progress of “a large scale water project.” The water project was the South San Joaquin Irrigation District’s (SSJID) first endeavor to provide a reliable and affordable source of irrigation water for 72,000 acres of agricultural area surrounding Escalon, Ripon, and Manteca, California. More than 100 years later, the newspaper (then named the “Irrigation Bulletin” now known as “The Manteca Bulletin”) and the SSJID are going strong.

References

  1. ↑ Dennis Wyatt (2014-03-25). "The $9.99 watermelon". Mantecabulletin.com. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  2. ↑ Dennis Wyatt (2013-04-24). "LAFCo treating SSJID differently than Lathrop power provider". Mantecabulletin.com. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  3. ↑ "Facts not Fear: Save 15 Percent on Your Electric Rates with SSJID". Savewithssjid.com. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  4. ↑ "Study: SSJID can lower rates 15%". Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "SSJID Fights Back". SSJIDFightsback.com. Retrieved 2014-11-15.
  6. ↑ http://www.mantecabulletin.com/section/38/article/117666/

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