The purchase of six electric-vehicle charging stations for public use was authorized this month by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. Once installed, they will be made available to the public free of charge at Andy’s Unity Park in Santa Rosa, a number of veterans memorial buildings, and other locations to be determined, according to an announcement from county officials. The stations will also be used as backup power for the county in times of emergency.
The acquisition of the portable solar-powered EV stations was funded by $791,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of Sonoma County’s Equitable Energy Resilience and Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project. The funding will be matched with $595,403 from the county’s Climate Resilience Fund for a project total of $1,386,603. The Climate Resilience Fund, which totals $10 million, was set aside by the Board of Supervisors in 2021 using PG&E settlement funds from the 2017 wildfires.
The purchase is part of a county effort “to bolster its off-grid, transportable infrastructure for continuity of operations during emergencies,” said Supervisor David Rabbitt.
The federal funding includes support for training and certification for local electricians who may have limited access to resources or face challenges with computer literacy. The program is part of a larger county initiative to invest in resilient critical infrastructure that can support essential public services and first responder operations during power outages, and to build a local workforce in the transition to a green economy.
For more information about the Sonoma County Equitable Energy Resilience and Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project, email SPI@sonoma-county.org.
