California’s first CCA was conceived in nearby Marin County by its energy authority and was primarily focused on the purchase of electricity from the grid. San Francisco will provide 100% renewable power from the grid, but lower costs to generate surplus revenues and focus on building local renewable power from day one.

 

This ‘In-City Buildout’ plan is different from an earlier focus on grid power procurement from the existing market, a strategy that allowed the City more control over the green house gas content of the electricity at a premium price, but would have been too expensive to afford the investment in local resources that would be needed to make the transition from distant supply-based generation to local renewable sources and efficiency.

 

A US$200 million has been projected for the CleanPowerSF programme in the near-term.

 

Locally generated clean power on a city-wide scale is a new kind of power which departs from the highly centralized model of traditional utilities, and requires Local Power’s proposed business model,” said Local Power founder and president Paul Fenn, who authored the nation’s original CCA laws. “Energy localization - local ownership, local renewable generation and energy efficiency, means that CleanPowerSF will take a behind-the-meter approach to energy service, and this is the essential leap required to stop imitating conventional supply side utilities.”

 

“Local Powder [has] proven that a US$1 billion investment in localization will deliver a US$600 million return in investment to the City over ten years - at rate parity for San Francisco consumers,” he added.