Mt. Poso Cogeneration Company and its partners, DTE Energy Services and Macpherson Energy Corporation, hosted an open house Wednesday for Kern County water agencies, elected officials and members of the community to promote diversion of waste and responsible water management.

The event recognized the third annual National Bioenergy Day, an effort by renewable energy producers across the nation to educate the public about the environmental, economic and community benefits that biomass provides as an energy source. In honor of the event, the County of Kern and the City of Bakersfield both issued proclamations declaring Oct. 21, 2015, as Bioenergy Day.

"Biomass is an important renewable energy source for our local community," said Stuart Welch, the manager of Environmental Health and Safety at Mt. Poso. "It keeps wood waste out of landfills and has created new markets for local agriculture byproducts."

The Mt. Poso plant was completely converted to run 100 percent biomass fuel instead of coal, and is delivering 44 megawatts of clean, renewable energy to the California grid. It produces clean, low-emissions power exclusively from biomass fuel. The wood used to fuel the power plant comes from construction waste, tree trimmings, and agricultural resources.

"Most power generation plants rely on water for their operations," added Maynard Adams, Mt. Poso plant manager. "As opposed to using a fresh water supply, Mt. Poso uses produced water from the adjoining oil operations to run our cooling towers, boilers and dust suppression."

"Mt. Poso is a great example of renewable energy and the oil industry working hand in hand," said Oliver Macpherson, Asset Manager for Macpherson Energy Corporation. "There are real benefits to operating the power plant and oil field together as a single unit. By reclaiming oilfield produced water, we don't have to rely on fresh water supplies that can be used for municipal and agricultural uses."