Currents

An Energy Newsletter for Local Governments

Santa Monica's Community Energy Independence Initiative

The City of Santa Monica has long been a leader in things energy in California. In 1999 the City adopted a Strategic Energy Plan aimed at maximizing the environmental, community economic development, and public health benefits of greater energy efficiency and using energy created from cleaner sources. In March, the city council conceptually approved a Santa Monica Community Energy Independence Initiative (CEII) and authorized implementation of a two-year demonstration project to verify potential program benefits and develop proposed financing and full-scale implementation plans for the Initiative.

The CEII demonstration project will show residents and businesses how energy efficiency, solar energy, and distributed generation can work together effectively and how greater energy independence provides economic benefit to the community. The CEII demonstration project proposes that up to 50 residential, commercial, and municipal buildings be solicited to voluntarily participate in the demonstration project. The City is exploring customized approaches to encourage participation from each building sector.

For commercial property owners, the City could enter into a public/private business relationship with one or more third party investment firms to provide owners with a lease/purchase option to finance and install Photovoltaic (PV) systems on their buildings. Under this approach, the building owner would enter into a long-term power purchase agreement with the third party investment firm and receive a savings on Southern California Edison’s utility rate based on the kilowatt-hours produced by the installed systems.

The investment firm would provide a significant portion of the capital needed for each PV installation and in exchange would retain ownership of the system and accrue any rebates and tax incentives. Under this scenario, the City could use its own bond financing to cover the remaining portion of the cost of the systems, be guaranteed reimbursement by the third party firm, and retain the solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) that could be later sold to pay for additional investment in renewable energy for the community.

For residential property owners, the City could solicit prospective hardware suppliers, installers, and local financial institutions to participate in the CEII. These residential demonstration project participants could be offered a pre-qualified package of services and hardware at a reduced cost. Finding municipal sites for participation will not be an issue.

After installation, each of the demonstration sites will be commissioned to ensure that the upgrades perform as designed and, on an ongoing basis, each site will be monitored to calculate energy savings.

One of the initial demonstration project tasks will be to create a Santa Monica CEII website and to sponsor public outreach and workshops that serve as a primary source for information about integrated energy management and build community support of the Initiative. The website will feature descriptions of energy products and their benefits, case studies showing the cost effectiveness of integrated energy management systems, calculators for citizens to perform quick analysis of the property’s potential for installation of energy efficiency and solar systems, permitting guidelines, rebate information, tax credit forms, and other financial information. As the demonstration site projects are implemented, the website will provide detailed information on the specific products used, installation costs, rebates, and energy savings. The website will also allow property owners to survey their roofs through the City’s GIS system for solar electric and solar thermal applicability.

For more information on Santa Monica’s CEII, contact Susan Munves at Susan.Munves@SMGOV.NET.

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