On October 31, I represented Sustainable Silicon Valley as part of a delegation of renewable energy advocates in a meeting with members of Gov. Jerry Brown's energy staff.  We were there to show support and seek assistance for our plan to contribute 2,400 MW of renewable energy/distributed energy projects by 2020--the Bay Area's proportional share of the Governor's 12,000 MW goal.

This listing of groups and resources, compiled by Bruce Riordan of Elmwood Consulting, shows that many organizations and communities are already working toward the goal.

Key Bay Area Projects and Programs 

Marin Clean Energy — Marin Energy Authority

The first “community choice aggregation” program in the Bay Area. In the CCA approach, local governments band together to purchase power for their communities—determining the energy mix, owning generation assets, etc.—while PG&E continues to maintain the transmission system and provide customer service. The Marin Energy Authority, composed of 8 cities and the County of Marin, now provides 28% renewable energy to its customers at competitive rates (compared to 17% renewables for PG&E). MCE also offers Deep Green, a 100% renewable energy product, for 1¢ more per Kwh. In business since May 2010, the initial rollout covers 8,000 residents. At full rollout, the program expects to have 70,000 customers. 

Three other Bay Area local governments seriously pursuing community choice aggregation:

CleanPowerSF — San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

San Francisco’s version of community choice aggregation, currently in the planning stage, expects to eventually provide 100% renewable energy to San Francisco residents and businesses. The program is being developed by the SFPUC, in conjunction with the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo), the Board of Supervisors, energy consultants and community groups. In mid-October, the SFPUC and LAFCo both took action to authorize the General Manager of the PUC to continue development of CleanPowerSF and to negotiate a contract for procuring green energy on the open market while conducting studies that could lead to building local renewable resources in San Francisco.

Sonoma County Clean Power

The Sonoma County Water Agency, at the direction of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has just completed a detailed feasibility study of the CCA approach for Sonoma County. In mid-October, the supervisors voted 5-0 to accept the report and directed the SCWA to conduct six months of additional research and analysis, reporting back in April 2012.

City of Richmond 

The City Council is spending $40,000 to analyze the feasibility of joining Marin Clean Energy and to gather and analyze data on their own electricity demand.

Silicon Valley Renewable Energy Project (SV-REP)

Phase I of the SV-REP Project is currently the largest multi-agency procurement of renewable energy in the United States, involving 70 sites at 43 locations, and collaboration across 9 public agencies (County of Santa Clara, cities of Milpitas, Cupertino, Morgan Hill, Pacifica, and Mountain View, Town of Los Gatos, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, and the South Bayside Waste Management Authority). The carport, rooftop, and ground-mounted systems will be located at community centers, city halls, fire stations, police stations, office buildings, senior centers, libraries, clinics, and other publicly-owned facilities. SV-REP was launched by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network's Public Sector Climate Task Force, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara in 2007. The SV-REP project was created to address three of the major challenges regarding public sector adoption of renewable energy in an era of diminished financial resources, including: high upfront costs associated with the purchase and installation of these technologies, the considerable transaction costs involved in conducting competitive bid processes and developing agreements, and the general lack of understanding of financing options and available incentives. The goal of the SV-REP project was to address these challenges via a regional collaborative effort utilizing a standardized Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) financing model, lease agreements and procurement process.

HELiOS Project (Helios Energy Lights Our Schools)—KyotoUSA

HELiOS is a Berkeley-based project of KyotoUSA aiming to eventually get solar power installed on every California school. HELiOS and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently completed solar master plan site assessments for all schools in the Berkeley, Oakland and West Contra Costa school districts.

There are a number of excellent Bay Area local renewables projects at Bay Area schools, including:

San Jose USD—5.5 MW on 14 sites

Milpitas USD—3.4 MW on 13 sites

San Ramon Valley USD—3.3 MW on 5 sites

SolarTech Project 

SolarTech is an initiative of Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) whose goal is to resolve the technical and market barriers that hinder the widespread adoption of solar energy for residential and commercial systems. SolarTech is a working consortium, composed of active member companies from across the solar industry, ranging from manufacturers, integrators and financiers to educators, local governments and utilities. Together, members lead the six SolarTech committees to identify best practices, apply them to standardized procedures, and develop tools and processes. SolarTech member companies are leaders, combining their resources to shape the solar industry.

Oakland Solar MOSAIC

The Ella Baker Center, Rebuild the Dream, Sungevity, Green for All and other strategic partners have launched this project to create local jobs and prosperity through a new crowd-sourcing model for financing clean energy development. Individuals purchase $100 shares (called “tiles”) that are combined to pay the upfront costs of solar installations on community buildings in Oakland. The building owners pay a set price for the electricity generated over a long-term contract. Through lower electricity bills, building owners save money. The facility owners eventually return the share values to the “investors.” The first phase of the project is creating community solar power for 7 communty buildings in Oakland.

Solar Community Gardens (SB 843)

Bay Area-based E2, Oakland-based Renewable Funding, Clean Path, and others are pushing SB 843 (Wolk) in the California legislature. SB 843 would greatly expand the number of electricity customers that can participate in renewable energy programs to include renters, people living in multi-family units, small business, public entities and people who lack sufficient credit or do not have an appropriate roof for roof-top solar. SB 843 accomplishes this through market competition without any state subsidies. Electricity customers can move and have the benefit applied to their new location since there is no equipment required at the electricity customer’s site. The bill would set up a financial system in which individuals purchase shares in a solar facility away from their home. Participants pay a set amount for their share of the solar electricity generated and receive a equal credit off their normal PG&E bill.

East Bay Green Corridor Solar Permitting Project

In late 2010, the Green Corridor Principals, including the Mayors of 8 cities, voted to develop a regional standardized solar energy permitting process as the group’s top policy priority to help increase efficiencies, drive the local solar PV market & boost the regional economy.  The Green Corridor’s progress thus far includes documenting current permitting practices in the region, identifying possible technical and procedural improvements, convening solar industry leaders and partnering on a successful DOE industry consortium grant led by SolarTech to develop a scalable national platform for solar PV permitting, inspection and interconnection.

Solar Sonoma County

Solar Sonoma County supports solar and energy efficiency-related policy issues, educates and trains community members in these fields, advocates for a rapidly growing industry, and acts as a clearinghouse for clean energy activity in Sonoma County. SSC is consortium of local businesses, elected officials, city governments and individuals who are dedicated to reducing greenhouse gases through the installation of solar and energy efficiency applications.

Sonoma County Energy Independence

Sonoma County's Energy Independence Program is a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program for property owners to finance energy efficiency, water efficiency and renewable energy improvements through a voluntary assessment. These assessments will be attached to the property, not the owner and will be paid back through the property tax system over time, making the program not only energy efficient but also affordable. As of September 2011, SCEI has funded over $51 million in improvements through 1,715 projects. More than half of these projects included renewables generation.

Santa Clara University Smart Grid Project

SCU is on course to become the first university in the Bay Area to install a smart microgrid, which ties its power source, transmission, distribution, and consumption data to weather reports, thereby maximizing energy savings. The power source can be solar, wind, or geothermal. The smart microgrid can also deliver data in real time and measure carbon emissions. In the event of a major power outage, SCU would be able to remain operational, even during prolonged periods of time, and generate enough electricity to power nearby homes and businesses. In the first phase of the project, SCU installed sub-meters into 14 buildings and integrated the smart microgrid’s onsite alternative energy sources, such as solar, fuel cells, and micro-turbines. When the next phase is completed in late 2011, the entire campus will be connected to the microgrid, reducing energy consumption by 50 percent and saving the University about 20 percent in energy costs. The project is a collaboration of SCU, Sustainable Silicon Valley, Cisco, and Serious Energy.

San Francisco Department of the Environment Renewable Power Program

The San Francisco Department of Environment has been supporting local solar market development as a US DOE Solar America Cities grantee since 2007, providing outreach and education to residents and business owners, creating the SF Solar Map and Wind Map, and developing innovative financing models for renewable energy projects, including the Solar@Work and Solar@School aggregated financing projects. The department also supports the development of emerging technologies like ocean power and urban wind, and is developing a plan to make the city 100% renewable energy powered.

City of Oakland Solar Installations

The City of Oakland has installed 1 Megawatt of solar electric panels on the rooftops of the Municipal Service Center and the downtown ice rink. These panels provide approximately 2.3% of the municipal electric load.

City of Berkeley Solar and Renewables Program

Berkeley, which pioneered what became the national PACE financing program, offers a range of solar and renewable services to its residents and businesses, including Berkeley Solar Map, and the Residential Solar PV Permit Guide. Berkeley also participates in the two-county Smart Solar program, which it originated.

Carbon Free Water By 2015 — Sonoma County Water Agency

As the largest energy user in the county, the Sonoma County Water Agency has committed to the goal of operating a carbon free water system by 2015. To achieve this goal, the Water Agency is actively working to diversify its energy portfolio and reduce its energy and fuel needs through efficiency and renewable energy production.

Literacy for Environmental Justice EcoCenter  (San Francisco)

The EcoCenter is the first environmental justice education facility in the Bay Area and San Francisco's first 100% “off-grid” building, modeling solar power and alternative wastewater technologies. The center utilizes a green roof, solar panels and wind turbines, and an energy efficient design.

Key Bay Area Reports On Local Renewable Power

Community Power—Decentralized Renewable Energy in California

Community Power, by Al Weinrub of the Oakland-based Local Clean Energy Alliance, argues that local, decentralized generation of electricity offers many benefits to California’s communities relative to large central-station solar or wind power plants in remote areas. The report identifies the factors that favor local decentralized generation of electricity: its economic benefits to local communities, its cost-effectiveness, its minimization of environmental impacts, its potential to rapidly meet renewable energy targets, and its increased system security. The paper also identifies obstacles to local renewable power and outlines policies that can promote its development.

In Our Backyard—How to Increase Renewable Power Production on Big B...

This report is based on a June 2009 symposium held at Berkeley Law in June 2009 that brought together leading renewable energy suppliers, policy advocates, public agency leaders, and large private company representatives. The symposium identified and prioritized the most critical barriers to promoting widespread decentralized generation on larges and buildings and other local spaces. The paper identifies the immediate and longer-term actions that government leaders, private industry, and public agencies must take to address the barriers. The key finding is that policy makers must expand and improve the net metering and feed-in tariff incentive programs.

Local CLEAN Program Guide

This comprehensive guide, produced by the Bay Area-based Clean Coalition, is designed to help communities and local utilities evaluate, design, and enact CLEAN Programs (Clean Local Energy Accessible Now) based on global best practices and the expertise developed by the Clean Coalition through their work throughout the U.S. The guide is comprised of seven free modules that will step readers through the process of designing and enacting successful CLEAN Programs at the local level. Modules 1, 2 and 7 are currently available.

Bay Area Smart Energy 2020 (coming soon)

The Bay Area Smart Energy 2020 plan, currently under development by Pacific Environment and expected to be released in late 2011, will provide a detailed road map for the Bay Area to develop a clean energy portfolio.  The report is based on a similar analysis conducted for San Diego, San Diego Smart Energy 2020.