California Utility and CCA Clean Energy Programs
The Major California Electrical Utilities now have clean energy programs for their environmentally conscious consumers to pay for clean energy, and to construct more clean energy sources. Smaller Community Choice Aggregation (CCAs) can buy clean power from sources, and have them delivered through major utility power grids, and the utilities also handle billing.
We review the power sources used in these various plans, starting with the major utility plans. The power plans contribute to green power purchases and construction, not to actually routing electrons only from such sources to your house. It is the overall use of such power that slows climate change.
As we showed in a recent post, the California Utilities overall are already only emitting about half the CO2 pollution of the US average.
We get power source data from the 2016 Power Content Labels from each utility.
The Unspecified contribution is out of state power, which may be clean Hydro in Northern California, and average Natural Gas power in Southern California.
Major Utility Plans
SCE, Southern California Edison, starts with a 100% option which is 100% Solar power. They also have a 50% option, which has 64% Renewables (4% Geothermal, 55% Solar, and 5% Wind), 3% Hydro, 10% Gas, 3% Nuclear, and 20% Unspecified.
LADWP, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, has a “Green Power for Green LA” program, which has 100% power from Biomass and Waste.
SDG&E, San Diego Gas and Electric, has “EchoChoice”, which purchases 100% Solar power.
CCA Plans
The first CCA, MCE, Marin Clean Energy, has “Light Green” with 55% Renewables (5% Biomass and Waste, 7% Small Hydro, 9% Solar, and mainly 34% Wind), 13% Hydro, 12% Natural Gas, and 19% Unspecified. Their “Deep Green” or 100% clean program is 25% Biomass, 25% Solar, and 50% Wind.
Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) has “Clean Start” with 42% Renewables (8% Geothermal, 2% Small Hydro, 31% Wind), 49% Large Hydro, and 10% Unspecified. It also has “Evergreen” with 100% Geothermal.
Lancaster Choice Power has “Clear Choice” with 38% Renewables (20% Biomass, 12% Small Hydro, 1% Solar, and 6% Wind), and 62% Unspecified. It also has “Smart Choice” with 100% Wind.
Peninsula Clean Energy has “ECOplus” with 58% Renewables (18% Small Hydro and 40% Wind), 27% Hydro, and 15% Unspecified. It also has “ECO100” with 100% Wind. This CCA has 21 communities in a Joint Power Authority.
There is a proposed LA County CCA with more than 80 cities involved.
San Diego is considering for a few years whether just to use the SDG&E EchoChoice program as their CCA.
CCAs cannot form within a City power company. Voters do not have to approve a CCA. They can be created by vote of a city council, or a county board of supervisors.
