Greening the Mix through Community Choice 

The Challenge

Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is an energy supply model whereby local governments combine their energy loads and make the choice to purchase energy independently instead of from a utility. Therefore, CCA allows local governments to set their own renewable energy targets and potentially deliver a greater range of renewable energy to their customers. As of 2017, CCAs were projected to account for as much as 60% of California’s electricity load by 2020.  
The objective of this project is to assess the potential of the CCA model in California to contribute to meeting 100% local, renewable energy by 2050 in Los Angeles County. Through analysis of policy and planning documents, media coverage and interviews, the project explored opportunities and benefits of this innovation in energy governance and service delivery. It also identified future challenges with the CCA model. 

Results

• The study found considerable variation in the renewable energy procurement strategies of California’s three most-established CCAs: Marine Clean Energy (MCE), Sonoma Clean Power (SCP), and Lancaster Choice Energy (LCE).  
  • MCE: MCE staff and administrators’ continued education efforts toward lenders and developers increased the number of longer-term local generation contracts in its procurement portfolio. As a result, their percentage of renewables in their energy portfolio increased from 52% (1,110 GWh) in 2013 to 54% (1,695 GWh) in 2015. 
  • SCP: Has made an explicit decision to focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the use of renewable energy certificates as part of its procurement strategy. As a result, their overall renewables procurement rapidly increased from 581 GWh in 2014 to 1,987 GWh in 2015, though the overall share of their energy portfolio declined from 43% to 36%. 
  • LCE: Launched relatively later in 2015 by the City of Lancaster, its focus on low-cost energy involved a range of policy initiatives localizing energy governance and shifting Lancaster’s role from a consumer to a major energy producer. Its overall renewables procurement was approximately 134 GWh, or 37% of their energy portfolio, in 2015.
• While immediate issues around access to capital appear to be resolved as CCAs mature, ongoing policy uncertainty regarding cost allocation between utility and CCA customers raises some serious concerns about the model’s viability in the long term. 
  • CCAs must pursue a more holistic model that works to meet future energy storage requirements while also electrifying transportation and natural gas applications. 
  • While MCE, SCP and LCE have all engaged in some electric vehicle pilot projects and rebate programs, promoting these programs at the scale required to meet regional, state and federal objectives remains a future challenge to overcome. 

Deliverable and Impact

A policy report, assessing the potential of CCA as a means of meeting the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge goal of 100% renewable energy by 2050, was developed and published on the California Center for Sustainable Communities website. A research presentation was also given at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting in April 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. The study is intended as a preliminary assessment providing a baseline analysis, which can be built upon in future years with the planned expansion of CCAs across the state.