September 30, 2016 – Third Quarter Newsletter


Friends,

Now that election season is in full swing, it is important to reflect on the direct relationship between governance and policy. There are significant policy implications depending on who becomes the next President of the United States, and it should be perfectly clear that Hillary Clinton will be far better for renewable energy and a modern grid  the Clean Coalition's two core focus areas.

In California, the linkage between governance and policy has been on full display within the electricity industry. A prime example comes from the failure of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) to fix a major market distortion resulting from the way that California's exorbitant and growing transmission costs are allocated. I believe that this helped lead to California policymakers, including the legislature and Governor Brown, rejecting CAISO's bid to dilute California control of CAISO that would have occured under a proposed regionalized balancing authority. As Tom Steyer intimated in his recent keynote at the CAISO Symposium, the only way that CAISO should be allowed to expand is if it is 100% certain that an expanded balancing authority will continue to be governed by California while serving in Californians' best interests.  

As is clear in the "Local renewables are being robbed" webinar highlighted below, CAISO is blatantly failing to serve in Californians' best interests with respect to transmission cost allocation. Hence, I encourage the entire Clean Coalition community to join the fight to demand that CAISO eliminate the massive Transmission Access Charges market distortion, which harms local renewables to the tune of 3 cents/kWh, or about 30% of the wholesale cost of energy in California, and which has an easy and inexpensive fix to save California ratepayers tens of billions of dollars. Get the details from the webinar and/or the TAC Campaign web page:
In the spirit of the election season, fight hard for the future, avoid repeating debacles like California's so-called deregulation disaster circa 2000, and get out the vote!!!

Sincerely,

Craig Lewis
Founder & Executive Director
Local renewables are being robbed
Last month's TAC Campaign  webinar exposed how Transmission Access Charges (TAC) in California are being misapplied to local renewable energy resources and illuminated how a simple fix will benefit local renewables, ratepayers, and the environment. Click below to access to the recording and presentations.
Georgia Power CLEAN programs deploy over 500 MW of local solar
Using Clean Coalition models, Georgia Power has figured out a way to offer benefits to its customers that many utility companies haven’t attempted yet: with wholesale distributed generation.
How California Created a New System for Determining the Costs of Grid Connection
California enacted  a new set of streamlining tools for interconnection that may well become a model for the rest of the country. Sahm White, Economics & Policy Analysis Director for the Clean Coalition, provided comments in Greentech Media's report.
Clean Coalition joins working group focused on New York interconnection reform
Members of the Clean Coalition policy team now have sitting positions on two New York Public Service Commission working groups to help reform the state’s interconnection policies and technical practices.
Long Island Community Microgrid Project feasibility study published
The Long Island Community Microgrid Project is one of the first projects to complete Stage 1: Feasibility Study of the New York Prize Community Microgrid Competition. Once completed, the project will provide reliable power to the East End of Long Island, while saving hundreds of millions of dollars and demonstrating the feasibility of high levels of local renewables. Click below to read the study.
Unit Cost Guide released, improving cost certainty and interconnection for distributed generation
The Clean Coalition has succeeded in its initiative for all of California’s investor-owned utilities to publish a Unit Cost Guide that will help guide distributed generation project applicants through the interconnection process with improved pricing transparency, predictability, and consistency.
Clean Coalition welcomes new members to the team
The Clean Coalition welcomed two new employees to the team this summer: Kenny Klittich and Frank Wasko.

Kenny leads the Community Microgrid Initiative and  brings to the Clean Coalition 10 years of experience as a consulting engineer in the environmental and renewable energy sector.

Frank manages the Peninsula Advanced Energy Community project as well as the proliferation of our CLEAN programs across the country.  He brings 30 years of service and experience from Southern California Edison across a variety of functions including field project management and field construction.
Upcoming  Events
The Clean Coalition is happy to be a partner organization for the following events this fall.

Energy Storage North America
October 4, 2016 at San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA
Go  here  for more information and registration options. Use the code ' GOESNA'  to receive 10% off the registration cost.

Renewable Energy Markets
October 16, 2016 at Parc 55 San Francisco - A Hilton Hotel, San Francisco, CA
Craig Lewis, Executive Director for the Clean Coalition, to speak.
Go  here  for more information and registration options.

Microgrids Convergence Conference
October 25, 2016 at San Mateo Marriott San Francisco Airport, San Mateo, CA
Craig Lewis, Executive Director for the Clean Coalition, to speak.
Go  here for more information and registration options.

LABC Mayoral Housing, Transportation, & Jobs Summit
October 28, 2016 at Korn Convocation Hall, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Los Angeles, CA
Go  here  for more information and registration options.

HOMER International Microgrid Conference
November 7, 2016 at Columbia University Faculty House, New York, NY
Go  here  for more information and registration options.

U.S. Energy Storage Summit
December 7, 2016 at Hyatt Regency San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Go  here  for more information and registration options. Use the code ' CLEANCOALITION15'  to receive 15% off the registration cost.
The campaign to fix Transmission Access Charges (TAC): latest updates and filings

The Peninsula Advanced Energy Community (PAEC): latest updates