Put It In Our Backyard! How Localized Renewables Can Put Your City to Work Currently, California cities face three challenges: The economic downturn has led to high unemployment.
Many California cities are seeking ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to comply with state greenhouse gas reduction laws.
Decreasing tax revenue has left cities unable to fund greenhouse gas reduction programs.
Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG) Can Help WDG is a type of renewable power that has the potential to address all of these challenges. California currently has incentive programs like “Million Solar Roofs” for homeowners, while California’s utilities such as PG&E are working to site large “central station” renewable projects in remote locations such as the Mojave Desert. Largely missing in California’s energy policy are proper regulations and incentives for localized energy generation, or Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG). These are projects that are up to 20 megawatts in capacity, sell power to the grid, and are located within or near the energy market—that is, your city. This could be a large solar array over a parking lot or in an empty lot,on a mall roof, or a small wind farm that serves local needs. Recent, dramatic reductions in the prices of photovoltaic solar panels and other renewable technologies have made WDG a costeffective option. According to a report written for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), over half of the generation Googleplex, Sunnyvale CA
that is to be built under the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) could costeffectively come from local, distributed sources at a cost similar to that of central station renewable projects. These are renewable energy projects that PG&E is required by law to either develop or buy energy from—they might as well be located in your city!
251 Kearny St., Second Floor ▪ San Francisco, CA 94108 tel. 415.399.8850 ▪ fax. 415.399.8860 ▪ www.pacificenvironment.org
Why WDG Projects Are Valuable to Cities They create green collar jobs in the communities where people live. Installing and maintaining these projects will put people to work. They would be financed by the utilities or by private developers, with no fiscal impact to cities. They require almost no environmental review, and are rarely controversial. They can be developed quickly. They reduce dependence on polluting fossil fuels, and can help meet local Climate Action Plan targets.
What Cities Can Do to Get WDG Projects The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) makes key decisions on what sort of power the utilities buy, and on what terms. Currently, they are working on a “Long Term Procurement Plan,” where they authorize the type and the volume of energy that utilities should procure for the next 10 years. Pacific Environment is an intervener at the CPUC, where we are making the case that WDG projects are an effective way to meet the state’s renewable goals. Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) have been proven worldwide to deliver and scale costeffective renewable energy. FITs is an incentive program which would mandate a guaranteed price for renewable power sold to utilities, fostering clean energy by providing a reliable price and leveling the playing field for renewable energy generators. In the US, Vermont, Hawai, and the cities of Gainesville FL, and Sacramento have implemented FITs to support local renewable development.
We urge your city to weigh in on the process with a resolution supporting local renewable development as a key tool for local job generation, economic development, and greenhouse gas reductions. We have sample resolution language available on request. Send us your resolutions to the email address below, and we will submit them to the CPUC as a group. Contact: Rory Cox, Pacific Environment Tel: 415-399-8850 x302 rcox@pacificenvironment.org
251 Kearny St., Second Floor ▪ San Francisco, CA 94108 tel. 415.399.8850 ▪ fax. 415.399.8860 ▪ www.pacificenvironment.org