Business Facilities - September 2008 - (Page 54)

CALIFORNIA BOUNDLESS BUSINESS ON THE WEST COAST Port of Stockton, shown here, loads a shipment of one million tons of California’s rice exports. gis, Panattoni Development Company, Opus West Corporation, Industrial Developments International, AMB Property Corporation, and Buzz Oates Enterprises are among the companies investing in sites and buildings in San Joaquin County. The San Joaquin Partnership, a private, non-profit economic development corporation designed to attract business and industry to the region, has provided a meaningful economic impact. Since 1995, the San Joaquin Partnership has been successful in providing services and assistance to more than 307 businesses that chose to expand or locate in San Joaquin County. These businesses have created over 49,000 new jobs that provide an annual labor income of $2.2 billion. Recognizing market, workforce, land or building requirements, and competitive position dictate a company’s location choice, and San Joaquin County provides the opportunities to meet these business needs. SMUD: INNOVATIVE ENERGY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Sacramento, the capital of California and the state’s first incorporated city, is currently one of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country. Sacramento’s sixSEPTEMBER 2008 county region is home to high-tech manufacturers, software developers, biotechnology and medical research laboratories, food processors, medical equipment manufacturers, call centers, and distribution facilities, making it highly diversified and stabilizing its economy. The region’s leading institutions of higher education, including California State University-Sacramento and the world-renowned University of California-Davis, offer opportunities for internships and technology transfer, and contribute substantially to the region’s labor pool. The UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento includes a Level 1 trauma center, a comprehensive cancer treatment center, a children’s hospital, a neuromuscular skeletal institute, and transplant services. The Sacramento region also has five community colleges, several private institutions of higher education, and more than 160 vocational training programs. For more than 60 years, the region’s reliable and affordable power has been provided by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), the nation’s sixth-largest customerowned not-for-profit electric utility. SMUD serves 1.3 million people who live and work in Sacramento County, providing electricity at rates that are nearly 23% below those of neighboring investor-owned utilities. For the second year in a row, SMUD received top honors in the West and the highest score in the nation in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2008 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study. The study surveyed customers from the 58 largest electric utilities in the nation. When compared with 14 other utilities in the Western region, SMUD maintained the top position and increased its overall score by 15 points over last year. “What an honor to be recognized by our customers two years in a row for exceptional service,” says SMUD Board President Larry Carr. “We are committed to keeping our customers happy and are always looking for ways to improve our level of service.” SMUD is a recognized leader and award winner for its innovative energy efficiency programs, renewable power technologies, and its sustainable environmental solutions. In keeping with that reputation, SMUD recently unveiled a huge solar panel array that will provide electricity for a new program, SolarShares, for customers who want solar power but cannot site or afford owning them. The array, or “solar farm,” shares land with a Wilton turkey farm. The array will convert the sun’s energy into more than one million watts of renewable electricity, enough to avoid greenhouse gas emissions from 3,291 barrels of oil in the program’s first year alone, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator. SolarShares is the first program of its kind and the largest in the nation. All SMUD residential customers can now be solar energy users regardless of where they live and without committing thousands of dollars to buy their own solar panels. The solar array consists of rows of racks that cover more than seven acres and contains more than 17,000 solar panels. The array was built and is owned by renewable energy company enXco. SMUD will buy solar power produced by the array through a power purchase agreement A S P E C I A L A D V E RT I S I N G S E C T I O N O F B U S I N E S S FA C I L I T I E S 54 PHOTO CREDIT: PORT OF STOCKTON

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Business Facilities - September 2008

Business Facilities- September 2008 Contents First Word Snapshots Corporate Moves:�Mississippi Editor's Location Picks 2008 The Palmetto State Reaches Across the Sea Corporate Moves:�Tennessee Metro Spotlight:�Spokane, WA Biotech: Building Block for Development Wind Power Lifts Iowa Germany:�Europe's Economic Juggernaut California Here We Come Up, Up and Away in North Carolina Corporate Moves:�West Virginia Metro Spotlight:�Decatur/Greensburg, IN Advertiser Index Ask the Expert

Business Facilities - September 2008

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