The San Diego City Council on Sept. 18 approved a plan to create a new joint-powers authority with cities across the region.
The JPA will govern and operate a regional community choice aggregation (CCA) program, with the primary goal of achieving a 100 percent renewable energy portfolio by 2035, ten years earlier than the goal established for the state of California in Senate Bill 100, that was passed and signed by the Governor last year.
The vote makes San Diego the largest American city to pursue a clean energy community choice aggregation program and the regional entity will be the second-largest community choice entity in California in terms of electrical load.
San Diego conducted a CCA feasibility study in 2017 that included extensive analysis and third-party peer review. It concluded that the community choice program would be reliably solvent and financially feasible. The city then tasked MRW & Associates to develop a business plan for the community choice program.
The city council vote follows recent votes taken by the cities of Chula Vista, La Mesa and Encinitas to join the regional joint-power entity. The city of Imperial Beach is expected to consider the proposal later this week.
San Diego County to continue exploring community choice aggregation
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 10 voted 3-2 to continue exploring the idea of getting into the business of buying and selling electricity through community choice aggregation.
The action came after a feasibility study and business plan was presented to the board on the pros and cons of community choice energy, the county noted.
Association offers new CCA program membership category
The American Public Power Association has initiated a new category of membership for community choice aggregation programs.
