Today, Mayor Mark Farrell signed a resolution recognizing a historic milestone in the City’s ongoing efforts to provide cleaner, greener electricity to San Francisco residents and businesses. 

This month marks the 100^th anniversary of the City-owned and operated Hetch Hetchy Power System, which has generated and delivered 100 percent greenhouse gas-free hydroelectricity to San Francisco. To honor that historic milestone, Mayor Farrell introduced a resolution proclaiming May 6, 2018 as Hetch Hetchy Power System Centennial Day.

“For a century, San Francisco has been a pioneer in clean energy practices,” said Mayor Farrell. “We can celebrate this achievement, but with such great uncertainty at the federal level when it comes to environmental support, we must double down on our current efforts to be an innovative leader in sustainable energy policies. While we recognize one century of accomplishments, we are plotting out the next 100 years of responsible environmental stewardship.”

San Francisco has pursued innovative and sustainable energy practices at the same time that the City’s population and economy has experienced unprecedented growth, debunking the falsehood that strong environmental and economic objectives are mutually exclusive. The City has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 29 percent, while the population has grown by 20 percent and gross domestic product has increased 111 percent.

Last month, Mayor Farrell announced two more ambitious goals for San Francisco—a pledged for the City to be carbon neutral by 2050 and to have 80 percent of trips be taken by sustainable modes by 2030.

The Hetch Hetch energy systems powers some of the City’s most recognizable landmarks and services, including City Hall, Muni vehicles, the San Francisco Zoo and San Francisco International Airport. It also helps to meet the City’s goal to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.

As the City continues to eliminate carbon emissions from its electricity supply, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is empowering residents and businesses with an array of programs and initiatives that make it easy to go green. In addition to clean Hetch Hetchy electricity, the SFPUC also offers San Francisco electricity customers CleanPowerSF, a clean energy partnership with PG&E.

CleanPowerSF is now serving more than 80,000 San Francisco customers with cleaner energy from renewable sources such as wind and solar power. The SFPUC anticipates enrolling all eligible San Francisco customers in CleanPowerSF by July 2019.

“Every new SFPUC power customer is making a real and immediate impact on climate change,” said SFPUC General Manager Harlan L. Kelly, Jr. “We are committed to bringing clean, safe and reliable energy to all San Franciscans.” 

The SFPUC is also building a Hetch Hetchy electricity distribution line in the City’s Mission Bay Neighborhood to better connect future customers with Hetch Hetchy clean electricity. Additionally, this year, the SFPUC will bring online four new solar arrays totaling 400 kilowatts in new renewable generation for the City.