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 has created a Local CLEAN Program Guide ("the Guide") designed 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.  Download the recording here or sign up for the Clean Coalition’s mailing list here 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.

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.