Renewable energy is generated from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, geothermal heat, byproducts of organic material decomposition (bio-fuels) and even ocean tides – all of which are naturally replenished. California has had a long standing commitment to the development and use of renewable energy resources and IEUA has fully supported that endeavor by implementing a multi-faceted Renewable Energy Resource Program. The ability for IEUA to generate electricity from natural resources opens the door to receiving incentives related to renewable energy credits. IEUA has a goal of becoming 100% self-sufficient in producing the 11,000 Kilowatts (or 11.0 Megawatts) of electrical energy needed for operating all of its facilities and systems.
The program currently includes utilization of methane gas as a bio-fuel resource produced from the decomposition or organic matter in the IEUA regional water recycle facilities; installation of solar photovoltaic arrays at three of the recycle water facility sites and at the Inland Empire Regional Composting Facility (IERCF) site; and assessing the feasibility for wind power production and conversion of algae to a bio-fuel resource.
Bio-fuel Resources
Methane Gas: The biosolids removed from the wastewater at the IEUA water recycle facilities are treated through the solids handling processes located at Regional Plant No. 1 (RP-1) and Regional Plant No. 2 (RP-2). In addition to these facilities, IEUA operates Regional Plant No. 5 – Solids Handling Facility (RP-5 SHF) that is specifically designed to process dairy manure and food wastes from within the IEUA service area. 
The biosolids from these facilities are treated in what are called Anaerobic Digesters. These treatment units are biological and provide an environment for anaerobic microorganisms to breakdown and stabilize the organic matter. Therefore, digestion or stabilization occurs by the microorganisms first attacking the biosolids soluble and dissolved organic matter such as the proteins and sugars. From these reactions, organic acids and gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and low levels of methane gases are formed. This is known as the acid fermentation phase of anaerobic digestion and this process proceeds rapidly. Concurrent with this initial activity, other anaerobic microorganisms continue to attack the organic proteins and amino acids resulting in the production and predominance of relatively high quality methane gas. The RP-1 and RP-2 facility utilizes what is called three stage anaerobic digestion while the RP-5 SHF utilizes what is called single stage anaerobic digestion. In general, the difference between these two types of digestion processes is related to the time and temperature for treating the biosolids (for more information on how these processes function, refer to the RP-1, RP-2 and RP -5 SHF web pages).
The methane gas produced by the anaerobic digestion process is odorless, highly flammable and is used as a bio-fuel source for operating engine generators to produce electrical power. The engines are located at RP-1, RP-2 and the Chino Desalter Authority Treatment Plant No.1. In addition, IEUA recently completed the Renewable Energy E Project (REEP) which houses two lean burn engine sets. All of the engines are also designed to use natural gas as a supplemental fuel source and therefore, are referred to as dual fuel engine generator sets. The total combined power production capacity of these engines at 90% load is 7,000 Kilowatts (7.0 Megawatts). Since they are capable of producing both heat and electricity from one fuel source, they are considered to be co-generation units.
Currently, the IEUA water recycle facilities produce an average of about 600,000 cubic feet of methane gas per day. This translates into the co-generation systems being able to produce about 30% of the electrical power needed to operate the IEUA facilities and purchasing 70% of electrical power from Southern California Edison.
Algae to Fuel: Algae has the capability to grow rapidly in sunlight and can have a high percentage of lipids or oils depending on the species. It can double its mass several times a day
and produce at least 15 times more oil per acre than alternatives such as rapeseed, palms, soybeans, corn or jatropha. Algae with a good lipid factor (vegoil in relation to algae cells) can be made into vegetable oil, bio-diesel, bio-ethanol, bio-gasoline, bio-methanol, bio-butane and other bio-fuels. It can be grown on land unsuitable for conventional agriculture or human habitat such as coastal land and desert areas with high saline water. The greatest challenge has been to grow
Algae in a controlled way and to harvest it efficiently. IEUA is exploring the feasibility on how algae
as a renewable energy resource may be utilized as an opportunity to achieve it’s 100% self-sufficient power production goal.
Solar Power Resources
It is well known that sunlight can be converted into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells and in recent years, the installation of larger multi-megawatt Solar Power plants have become a
normal application to produce electrical power. As part of the IEUA renewable energy portfolio, PV was considered as a viable source to further augment meeting the Agencies goal to becoming 100% self-sufficient. The use of solar power also offers the opportunity to take advantage of renewable energy credits. IEUA entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Sunpower Corporation for construction of solar power plants that will generate up to 3,400 Kilowatts (3.4 Megawatts) of electricity. These solar power plants will be located at the RP-5, Carbon Canyon Water Recycle Facility (CCWRF) and RP-1 facilities; and at the Inland Empire
Regional Compost Facility (IERCF). All of these solar power plants will be operation by the end of 2008 and will increase the Agency’s renewable energy production to about 65%.
Wind Power Resources
Wind energy is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed and clean. It is considered by many to be more environmentally friendly than most other renewable energy resources. The principal
application of wind power is to generate electricity. However, the intermittency of wind can have a major impact on the amount of power produced despite the Santa Ana winds experienced in the greater Chino Basin. Wind is never constant and therefore, annual energy production is generally never as much as the sum of the wind turbine rating multiplied by the total hours in a year. The ratio of actual productivity in a year to this theoretical maximum is called the capacity factor. Typical capacity factors are 20% to 40%. For example, a one megawatt wind turbine with a capacity factor of 35% will not produce 8,760 Megawatt-hours in year, but only 3,066 Megawatt-hours, averaging about 0.35 Megawatts. Given this consideration, IEUA is undertaking a small wind power demonstration project to determine if the wind environments and probable capacity factors will support further development for implementing larger scale wind turbine applications as another viable renewable energy resource to achieve the 100% self-sufficiency goal.