At the end of June, 325 Community Choice agency (CCA or Community Choice) operators and advocates, clean energy businesses, and elected officials from around the state converged in Irvine in Southern California at the fifth Business of Local Energy Symposium. Hosted by the Center for Climate Protection (Center) and our partners, the event brought parties […]
At the Business of Local Energy Symposium in June David Hochschild, a Commissioner at the California Energy Commission, and Mark Ferron, a Board Member of the California Independent System Operator, agreed that Community Choice Agencies (CCAs) are “the most innovative and exciting development in the United States” in the clean energy sector. They are also […]
As Community Choice agencies spring up around the state, they are experimenting with various new business models. As they do, they are functioning as innovation incubators. Valley Clean Energy Alliance (VCEA), a new Community Choice agency comprised of the Cities of Davis and Woodland and unincorporated Yolo County, is using an approach not previously tried […]
At the Business of Local Energy Symposium in Long Beach in May 2017, California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker issued a challenge to the assembled CCA community. “…The legislature told us that we have a carbon goal of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. That is what I am making my agency into. […]
In 2010, Marin Clean Energy chose Shell Energy North America as its first electric service provider, making the company the first to supply a California Community Choice Energy program with electricity. I spoke with Glenn Wright, CEO of Shell Energy North America (SENA), about his views of Community Choice and what he sees on the […]
The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) recently released a report that predicts that mid-sized solar systems (called “Community-Scale Solar”) may become the fastest growing part of the market in the next few years. The report finds that these systems may add as much as 30 gigawatts of capacity across the country in the next three years. […]
I am so grateful for the rain that fell yesterday, so unusual for California in September. In these last months, I feel like I’ve had front row seats to the climate disaster unfolding as fire ravages our state, unable to do anything about it. The intensity and proximity of the Valley fire in Lake County […]