Local Action

The Clean Coalition works with communities to evaluate, design, and implement Clean Local Energy Accessible Now (CLEAN) Programs that meet local community goals, including: creating local economic benefits, leveraging private investment dollars, reducing electric bills for community members, achieving the climate and sustainability targets of the community, and providing a safer, more resilient energy infrastructure.

Local CLEAN Program Guide

The Clean Coalition created the Local CLEAN Program Guide ("the Guide") to help communities and local utilities evaluate, design, and enact CLEAN Programs based on global best practices and the expertise developed by the Clean Coalition while designing and advocating for local CLEAN Programs throughout the United States.  The Guide is comprised of seven modules that will step readers through the process of designing and enacting successful CLEAN Programs at the local level.  These modules are available free of charge.  The full list of modules is as follows:

Module 1: Overview & Key Considerations (Click here to download PDF)

Module 2: Establishing CLEAN Contracts Prices (Click here to download PDF)

Module 3: Evaluating Avoided Costs (Click here to download PDF)

Module 4: Determining Program Size & Cost Impact (Click here to download PDF) 

Module 5: Estimating CLEAN Economic Benefits (Click here to download PDF)

Module 6: Designing CLEAN Policies & Procedures (Click here to download PDF)

Module 7: Gaining Support for a CLEAN Program (Click here to download PDF)

If your community does not have control over wholesale electricity purchases, your community can implement a CLEAN Campus Program to streamline renewable energy procurement.  Cities, counties, school districts, water districts, companies, and any other public or private entity that owns electricity-consuming properties can offer standard contracts and predefined rates and procedures.  In contrast to the request for proposal approach to clean energy transactions, the CLEAN approach results in far lower transaction costs and burdens for all parties, which translates into lower electric rates.  To learn more about CLEAN Campus Programs, click here.

To learn more about the Guide, download an audio recording of Craig Lewis, Executive Director of the Clean Coalition, presenting at a webinar for Climate Communities in July 2011 or join the Clean Coalition mailing list to receive updates about upcoming webinars.

Please contact the Clean Coalition at LocalGuide@Clean-Coalition.org if you have any questions about the Guide or if you are interested in becoming an advocate for a local CLEAN Program in your community.

Palo Alto CLEAN

In March 2012, the City Council of Palo Alto, California unanimously approved Palo Alto CLEAN.  The adoption of a CLEAN Program in Palo Alto, a center of clean tech innovation in the heart of Silicon Valley, reinforces the fact that CLEAN Programs are the ideal policy for expanding production of cost-effective, clean local energy, while boosting the local economy and increasing energy independence.

Under Palo Alto CLEAN, the City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) will purchase locally-produced solar energy at a fixed rate of 14 cents per kilowatt-hour for 20 years.  In the pilot stage of the program during 2012, 4 MW of solar energy from medium and large commercial-scale projects will come online.  CPAU expects to expand the program size starting in 2013 and may include other types of renewable energy and expand the range of eligible project sizes.  More details about Palo Alto CLEAN are available here.

The Clean Coalition has been very active in supporting the development of Palo Alto CLEAN, which is highly innovative and will guide many additional CLEAN Programs throughout the country.  This cost-effective program, which increases the average utility bill by only a penny per month, will reduce carbon emissions, create local jobs, and open new investment opportunities for local businesses. 

CLEAN LA Solar Program

The CLEAN LA Solar Program continues to move forward after winning critical approval from the Los Angeles City Council in early April 2012.  The Los Angeles City Council authorized the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to purchase up to 150 MW of solar power generated by local property owners.

To launch the CLEAN LA Solar Program, LADWP is rolling-out a 10 MW pilot program in April 2012.  LADWP will use this pilot program to gauge customer interest at different project size ranges and determine appropriate pricing levels.  After the successful completion of the pilot, LADWP plans to expand the program to 75 MW, opening this capacity as early as late 2012.  LADWP may further expand program capacity by another 75 MW to a total of 150 MW.  LADWP expects the entire program capacity — either 75 MW or 150 MW — to be online by the end of 2016.

According to the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC), a fully subscribed 150 MW program would create 4,500 jobs, generate $500 million in economic activity and offset 2.25 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

The Clean Coalition is optimistic that the pilot project will prove successful and LADWP will act quickly to expand the program to at least 75 MW, which is sized to match the utility’s allocation for renewable energy generation under SB 32.

Fort Collins, Colorado CLEAN Program

The City of Fort Collins and the Fort Collins Utilities retained the Clean Coalition in September 2010 to assist with the development of a cost effective two-year pilot CLEAN Program.  The goal of the pilot program is to show that cost-effective local renewables can scale in a timely fashion while delivering significant environmental and economic benefits.  To meet this goal, the program aims to increase the amount of rooftop solar arrays in Fort Collins by 40 times and generate upward of $60 million in investment in the community.

Throughout the process of creating the structure and implementation plan for a CLEAN Program for Fort Collins, the Clean Coalition engaged a broad range of key stakeholders, including staff from the City of Fort Collins, the utility, the Platt River Power Authority, local solar industry representatives, as well as other interested stakeholders.  We worked with these key stakeholders to determine the program’s goals, resources and constraints.  With this input, the Clean Coalition conducted a detailed analysis, including a comprehensive modeling of project costs and economic viability in relation to regional solar resource availability, technological and market data, and a full assessment of the avoided costs that would otherwise be paid under current practices.

Based on its investigation, the Clean Coalition is confident that Fort Collins can deploy significant volumes of cost effective clean local energy in a timely fashion while delivering substantial economic benefits.  In February 2011, the Clean Coalition finalized the CLEAN program proposal and presented it to the Fort Collins City Council Finance Committee, where it received great support.  This presentation is available to download here [PPTx].

The Fort Collins City Council is expected to vote on a final CLEAN Program proposal this summer.