ORIGINAL REPORTING: Join or die: How utilities are coping with 100% renewable energy goals
Join or die: How utilities are coping with 100% renewable energy goals; Where cities take control of their energy choices, utilities face a stark choice.
Herman K. Trabish, Dec. 13, 2017 (Utility Dive)
Editor’s note: There are now 70 governments with 100% renewables commitments.
In June 6, 2017, Santa Barbara, Calif., became the 30th U.S. city committed to getting 100% of its power from renewable energy. Just six months later, on Nov. 29, Truckee, Calif., became the rapidly growing 100% renewables movement’s 50th city …100% commitments continue. Over 150 Republican and Democratic Mayors have endorsed the objective. The United States Conference of Mayors in June approved a resolution reaffirming its support of the Paris Climate Agreement and of policies to grow renewables and cut emissions. This growing momentum is driven by two key factors, according to Jodie Van Horn, Executive Director of Ready for 100, a division of the Sierra Club pushing 100% renewables. One is a widening range of cost-effective renewables options. The other is the threat of selling less power.
Ready for 100’s just-released 2017 Case Study Report shows that many utilities realize they must either work with municipalities to deliver the power mix customers want or lose the customers, Van Horn told Utility Dive. It also shows that some utilities have not seen the handwriting on the wall — the rising power of municipalization or the threat of the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) movement. Many utilities are responding cooperatively to cities’ 100% renewables commitments, Van Horn said. They are offering green pricing programs, community renewable energy programs and bilateral contracts through green tariffs. “They see that those who partner are going to have a bright future and those that resist are going to find themselves with a shrinking customer base,” Van Horn said. Where utilities don’t cooperate, cities are taking control… click here for more
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