San Diego County joins local 5-city community choice energy program – California News Times

NS San Diego County Oversight Board On Tuesday, we voted to join the larger of the two Local Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) programs that act as alternatives to San Diego Gas & Electric for purchasing energy contracts.

The board was elected with 3-2 votes San Diego Community Power — CCA consisting of cities in San Diego, Chula Vista, Lamesa, Encinitas and Imperial Beach — Clean Energy Alliance Buy electricity for customers in the North County cities of Del Mar, Solana Beach and Carlsbad.

“For me, in the final analysis, San Diego community power will have the greatest impact on achieving a cheaper, fairer and more reliable future of clean energy in our region.” Said. Supervisor Terra Lawson Remer..

This move will significantly expand San Diego Community Power (SDCP for short). Prior to Tuesday’s vote, SDCP already expects to be the state’s second-largest CCA, with approximately 772,000 customers by next spring adding residential customers to current local and commercial accounts. There is. Currently, approximately 180,000 energy users will be added to the county’s unincorporated area.

“We are really excited to welcome new members,” he said. Joe Mosca, SDCP Chairman and Encinitas City Council Member.. According to Mosca, the size of the organization provides economies of scale for signing electricity purchase agreements. “We’re online with a renewable energy project and we’re doing it pretty quickly.”

The county will proceed to sign a joint power agency agreement with SDCP. The agreement includes language to protect the county’s general financial resources in the event of financial difficulties for the CCA.

Lawson Remer was elected county representative of the SDCP Board of Directors. Supervisor Nora Vargas Acts as an alternative.

The CCA was created by the California State Legislature to boost cleaner energy sources such as wind and solar at speeds equal to or less than investor-owned utilities, and purchased electricity contracts for specific communities. increase. The decision is made by government officials, not by the incumbent utility. The Community Energy Program aims to use the revenue generated from customers in addition to purchasing electricity to invest in local renewable energy projects.

However, the establishment of CCA does not mean that traditional utilities are gone. For example, SDG & E will continue to perform all tasks other than purchasing electricity, such as transmitting and distributing energy and billing customers. Over 20 CCA operations are in operation throughout the state.

SDCP and Clean Energy Alliance Fee about 1 NS 2% lower than SDG & E..

As with the entire state, San Diego County customers will eventually be automatically enrolled in SDCP, but if you want to stay in SDG & E, you can enroll for free.

Supervisor Joel Anderson When Jim Desmond Anderson voted against the county’s SDCP board representative, saying that coming from a district with a high proportion of unincorporated residents should “stick to the stone.” “40 percent of my district is not incorporated,” Anderson said.

Lawson Lemmer argued that residents of corporate cities such as San Diego and Chula Vista pay the same SDCP fees as residents of unincorporated areas.

The San Diego County Oversight Board will meet at the County Administration Center on Tuesday.

(Rob Nikolevsky / San Diego Union-Tribune)

In a pre-voting presentation, county officials made no recommendations as to which CCA the supervisor would participate in, saying that both were “in a solid financial position.”

Staff say the Clean Energy Alliance’s customer base of 59,200 is much smaller than the SDCP, but the county is the largest organization in the Clean Energy Alliance and may have more say in power decisions. Said. This is an appeal to Desmond.

“We will be big fish in the aquarium,” Desmond said. “In addition, by joining San Diego, we are building one huge conglomerate. It will be a mini SDG & E.”

Staff said the Clean Energy Alliance’s Joint Powers Authority’s words were more powerful than the SDCP’s words, but SDCP had 12 full-time employees and could grow to 26. .. Supervisory Committee Chairman Nathan Fletcher I liked it.

“I think the ultimate day-to-day management of (CCA) should be run by full-time full-time staff who have full focus and attention to it,” Fletcher said, making SDCP more powerful. He added that he believes he has renewable energy. Energy portfolio.

SDCP recently signed three power purchase agreements for a total of 300 MW of solar and 220 MW of energy storage — One project in Riverside County, another in Imperial County And the county is OK earlier this month Controversial 600-acre solar and battery storage project in Jacamba..

Barbara Boswell, interim CEO of the Clean Energy Alliance, said he was disappointed with the failure to vote.

“We thought it was a very good match and a great option for the county and its unincorporated residents and businesses,” Boswell said in a CCA chosen by the county. We support the expansion of choices. ” Boswell said the alliance is still looking to expand into other cities, adding that the group is in “first talks” with the city of San Clemente.

Early in the meeting, Anderson called on the board to postpone the 30-day vote to update the feasibility study on the potential risks and costs of participating in a community energy program.

June, CCA in Riverside County — Western Community Energy — File for Bankruptcy, Will be the first angry CCA in the state.

Anderson was also worried that the original study did not properly consider the cost of building a long-term energy storage system. He also questioned whether residents of unincorporated areas, facing hot summers and relying on electric heating during the winter, have much in common with CCA residents living near the coast.

“I’m reluctant to move it forward,” Anderson said. “Not many people talk about this today because they don’t even know it’s happening.”

But Fletcher said the county discussed the CCA issue in detail in 2019. Vote earlier this year We will move forward to advance the choice between SDCP and the Clean Energy Alliance. “If we don’t take action today, we’ll delay all this by a year,” Fletcher said. “This is the timeline.”

Anderson’s motion was defeated 3-2, with Fletcher, Lawson Lemmer and Vargas voting against it.

San Diego County joins local 5-city community choice energy program Source link San Diego County joins local 5-city community choice energy program