Episode Details

Peninsula Clean Energy

Peninsula Clean Energy is a community choice aggregation (CCA) founded in 2016 that serves about 310,000 customers in San Mateo County and the City of Los Banos. Peninsula Clean Energy has focused on increasing renewables since beginning service, setting higher targets for renewable energy procurement than those mandated by California under the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). By 2025, Peninsula Clean Energy  is aiming to achieve 99 percent renewable electricity on an hourly basis.

Back up… What are community choice aggregators?

Originally created to offer small residential electricity consumers a competitive alternative to large utilities during restructuring, CCAs’ presence on California’s grid has grown dramatically over the past decade and they now serve over 11 million Californians. Consumers served by CCAs continue to receive distribution and transmission services from the resident private utility - like PG&E - while the CCA chooses and purchases the electricity itself. Climate Break has covered CCAs before. For more on how these local entities are trying to decarbonize their energy supplies, see our story on Central Coast Community Energy.

How is this different from what California’s requiring anyway?

Under SB100, 50 percent of the electricity procured by load serving entities (LSEs) like Peninsula Clean Energy is supposed to be from resources that are eligible under California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). That means at least half of LSEs’ electricity must be met by renewable resources like wind and solar, and less than half from resources like natural gas and large hydroelectric power. By 2045, SB100 requires that LSEs achieve all 100 percent carbon-free electricity sales. 

These targets are based on annual rather than real-time accounting.  For example, LSEs like Peninsula Clean Energy can achieve RPS benchmarks by meeting all of their customers’ electricity demand with solar for half of the day, but relying on non-renewable resources like natural gas to meet high demand during evening hours. 

Similarly, many electricity providers in California are now offering 100 percent renewable energy plans. Customers can choose to opt into these plans, typically in exchange for a higher rate. These energy plans are 100 percent renewable on an annual basis, but may not be 100 percent renewable on a monthly, daily, or hourly basis. During high demand periods with low renewable supply, like hot summer evenings, most 100 percent renewable energy plans are still benefiting from non-renewable energy, but they make up for it by contributing extra renewable energy to the grid during other times. 

Peninsula Clean Energy’s goal—getting to all renewable energy on hourly basis—is much harder than getting to 100 percent renewable energy on an annual basis because their renewable supply will need to line up in real time with customers’ demand.

Advantages of Hourly Matching

By itself, annual matching requirements probably won’t be enough to decarbonize the grid. Hourly matching sends a stronger signal to invest in resources like long duration energy storage and geothermal, which can be available during hours when solar isn’t. By reducing demand for carbon-polluting resources like natural gas for all hours of the day, hourly matching can also help to reduce emissions by more than annual matching would.

Okay, but what are the drawbacks?<