CleanPowerSF

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CleanPowerSF is the City and County of San Francisco’s Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program, administered by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) and monitored by the San Francisco Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo), which is currently chaired by Supervisor John Avalos.

The purpose of the program is to significantly increase the amount of energy supplied to the San Francisco electrical grid from local renewable sources, decrease San Francisco’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and help combat global climate change,[1] while meeting or exceeding California's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which “requires investor-owned utilities, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators to increase procurement from eligible renewable energy resources to 33% of total procurement by 2020.”[2] San Francisco’s current electrical supplier, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), has to date been unable to meet California RPS requirements on schedule.[3]

In addition to California’s RPS mandate, in 2008 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted a goal of a GHG-free electric system by 2030. The city's Electricity Resource Plan lays out a pathway for the city to achieve its goal, generating, deploying and procuring all of its energy needs from renewable and zero-GHG electric energy sources, and the report identified a strong and robust CleanPowerSF as an integral part of that transformation.[4]


CleanPowerSF’s 2007 Implementation Plan calls for building 210 megawatts of in-city energy efficiency and new renewable generation capacity and a 150 megawatt regional wind facility within three years of the launch of the program, as well as achieving a 51 percent renewable energy portfolio within ten years.[5] Profit from sales of 100 percent renewable energy to end users is one revenue stream that CleanPowerSF plans to use to fund the local build-out of renewable energy resources and efficiency installations.

CleanPowerSF is currently projected to launch in Spring 2014. AB 117, the state law establishing and defining CCA in California, mandates that customers be automatically enrolled in the CCA that is formed in their area. Customers who wish to continue with the investor-owned utility company may choose to opt out of the CCA.[6][7] CleanPowerSF is the second CCA program to be implemented in California, following Marin Clean Energy, which launched in May 2010 and services 100,000 accounts in Marin County and the city of Richmond as of July 2013.[8]


On June 22, 2010, the city put out a second call for bids to renewable energy suppliers for product with which to launch the program (after the first bidding process collapsed due to the selected firm's lack of financial security), and Shell Energy North America (SENA) was the only company to respond adequately to the city’s bidding process.[9][10] While SENA did not win the bid outright, the SFPUC authorized its General Manager to negotiate with SENA to create a program that achieved the City’s goals, and shortly thereafter, the City entered into negotiations.

The city is currently negotiating a 4 ½-year non-exclusive contract with SENA to purchase 20-30 megawatts of 100 percent California-certified renewable energy. SFPUC staff report that the power purchased from SENA will be 100 percent greenhouse gas-free and 100 percent generated by unionized facilities in California. The use of reserve hydroelectric power from the city’s Hetch Hetchy Project for part of each year has also been discussed as a potential source of energy for CleanPowerSF customers.[11]

SFPUC’s contracting with a subsidiary of Shell as a means to launch CleanPowerSF has been challenged by some environmental and labor groups—most prominently IBEW Local 1245, which represents about 60 percent of PG&E employees[12][13] and has funded a professional TV, radio, and web campaign in opposition to the program. Concerns with the SENA contract have arisen both because of Shell’s corporate reputation as a polluter and because the contract includes Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) as part of the power mix.[14]

Meanwhile, environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and labor organizations like the Northern California District Council of Laborers (comprising 15 union locals) are vocal in their support of the program and in advocating for a more robust build-out of local renewable resources.[15] These groups point out that CleanPowerSF will immediately begin lowering GHG emissions while also providing for numerous green jobs as the program’s build-out transitions the city towards more and more locally-produced clean energy—that transition itself being the means to making contracts with companies like Shell obsolete.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, About CleanPowerSF Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  2. ↑ California Public Utilities Commission, California Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS). Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  3. ↑ Pacific Gas & Electric, PG&E's 2010 Electric Delivery Mix. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  4. ↑ San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, San Francisco's 2011 Updated Electricity Resource Plan: Achieving San Francisco's Vision for Greenhouse Gas Free Electricity. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  5. ↑ City and County of San Francisco, Community Choice Aggregation Program Description and Revenue Bond Action Plan and Implementation Plan, June 6, 2007. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  6. ↑ California State Assembly, Assembly Bill No. 117. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  7. ↑ MCE Clean Energy, Who We Serve. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  8. ↑ MCE Clean Energy, Welcome to MCE. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  9. ↑ Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, "SF clean-energy program may profit Shell," San Francisco Chronicle, September 11, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  10. ↑ Tim Redmond, "PG&E union mounts attack on Clean Power SF," San Francisco Bay Guardian, September 11, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  11. ↑ San Francisco WaterPowerSewer, CleanPowerSF Staff Presentation, July 9, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  12. ↑ IBEW 1245, IBEW 1245 and PG&E. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  13. ↑ PG&E, Our People. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  14. ↑ Tim Redmond, "PG&E union mounts attack on Clean Power SF," San Francisco Bay Guardian, September 11, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  15. ↑ Sierra Club, San Francisco Bay Chapter, CleanPowerSF. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  16. ↑ Sierra Club, Local Clean Energy Alliance, 350BayArea.org, Our City, & Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Council, Clean Energy Advocates Applaud Reduced Electricity Rates for CleanPowerSF Program. Retrieved July 23, 2013.

External links

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