Initiatives

CLEAN LA Solar Program Spring 2013 Update

The CLEAN LA Program is the nation’s largest solar rooftop program. The 150 Megawatt Solar Rooftop Program was proposed by the Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) and was adopted by the Los Angeles City Council and the LA DWP. Currently, most of L.A.’s renewable power is generated outside the L.A. basin and transmitted inefficiently to customers. By contrast, the CLEAN LA Solar program will incentivize clean-energy production within city limits by taking advantage of L.A.’s vast, underused rooftop space. The result will be more efficient power delivery and a reduction in the city’s reliance on energy produced by coal. Watch this video to learn more about the CLEAN LA Program:

How the 100MW Program works: The Board of Water and Power Commissioners approved the 100-megawatt CLEAN LA Solar Set Pricing Program as the first component of a 150- megawatt FiT Program. The program will be released in five allocations of 20 megawatts each. The remaining 50MW will be developed as a bundled project as a part of the LADWP’s Beacon Solar Project. More details on this tranche are below.

Applications for the 100MW set pricing program are reviewed based on their queue position on the Review Priority List. Eligible projects will be offered a standard 20-year contract that requires LADWP to purchase the solar power at a set price: Projects in LA City will be contracted at a rate starting at 17 cents per kilowatt-hour; projects in Owens Valley will be contracted at a rate of 14 cents per kilowatt-hour.

How the 50MW Bundled Program works: The LADWP expects to release the Requests for Proposal for the 50MW bundled Beacon Solar Project in May of 2013. This Bundled Program is located on the LADWP’s property in the city of Cantil, CA. Each developer participating in the Bundled Program within the Beacon Project will be required to reach installment milestones of one-third of their MW obligation by December 31, 2014, two-thirds of their MW obligation by December 31, 2015, and the total obligation by December 31, 2016.

Update on the first 20 MW tranche: In February of 2013, the LADWP opened bidding for the first 20 MW of the CLEAN LA Solar program and was met with strong enthusiasm from customers and solar power developers. Applications for over 107 megawatts (MW) of potential solar projects were submitted for an available 20MW, making the program oversubscribed by 500% in its first round. The applications submitted include 2 MWs of capacity for 22 smaller solar projects ranging from 30 kW to 150 kW, and 105 MWs for 76 larger projects that range from 151 kWh to 3 MW. These projects were dispersed throughout the City of Los Angeles as well as the Owens Valley, where LADWP provides electrical service to several local communities. Of the projects located in the City of LA, about 60% of the projects were located in the San Fernando Valley and the rest were distributed throughout the city.

Impact on local investment: We are already experiencing an economic impact in Los Angeles. One shining example can be found in the firm Solar Provider Group. This firm has announced plans to significantly expand its investment in this city by moving their global headquarters to Los Angeles. The company’s LA headquarters will serve as its base of operations as it evaluates additional investments throughout California and the Western U.S. Over the next year, their new office will hire roughly 30 additional employees in sales, engineering and construction, creating new, high-quality, local jobs. To date, Solar Provider Group has already invested more than $1 million in Los Angeles during the program’s demonstration phase, and plans to invest up to $50 million by the end of 2016, thus validating the argument that the CLEAN LA Solar program is indeed a stimulus to the local economy.

Economic impact: It is estimated that the full 150-megawatt program will produce 4,300 jobs over the next several years and garner over $500 million worth of private investment.

Workshops: The Los Angeles Business Council and LADWP will host various workshops for property owners, solar developers, workforce professionals, and financial institutions. The workshops will focus on how to participate in both the Fixed Rate and Bundled program and will allow for attendees to network with potential business partners. The first workshop will take place on Thursday, May 30, 2013 from 2:00-4:00pm in the San Fernando Valley and will be hosted by Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitchell Englander.

Prop 39 Report released at the 2013 Sustainability Summit

Achieving Prop 39′s Clean Energy Promise: Investing in Jobs, Efficiency Programs and Renewable Resources

Executive Summary of Prop 39 Report

Prop 39 Full Supporting Report

The Los Angeles Business Council commissioned the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation to evaluate options for implementing funds from Proposition 39 – The California Clean Energy Jobs Act – passed by voters in November of 2012.

Prop 39 requires businesses operating in multiple states to calculate their California income tax liability based on the percentage of their sales in California. This tax approach is referred to as the “single sales factor,” and is expected to increase state revenues by as much as $1.1 billion annually.

For a five-year period, half of the revenues from Prop 39 – up to a maximum of $550 million – will be transferred annually to the Clean Energy Job Creation Fund, which will be used to fund projects that create jobs in California by improving energy efficiency and expanding renewable energy generation. The funds will be allocated between (1) schools and public facilities, (2) job training and workforce development, and (3) public-private partnerships.

California has a tremendous opportunity under Prop 39 to create quality clean-energy jobs in the state, realize significant benefits for our school children, strengthen the public and private sectors, and improve environmental sustainability.

This study recommends the establishment of a revolving loan fund and associated lending programs to finance energy efficiency and clean energy projects in order to maximize the associated benefits of Prop 39 in accordance with the stated objectives of the proposition.

At the heart of the LABC’s work is advocacy for important public policy initiatives that will benefit the Los Angeles region. Working in concert with both small and large businesses, as well as academics and elected officials, we aim to spur debate, forge consensus and drive progress in these areas:

Energy & Environment
Housing & Transportation
Economic Development

We believe that Los Angeles has tremendous opportunity to be a leader in each of these areas, and have worked hard to create a shared space for the development and enactment of policy initiatives that will benefit our city and region. Please see below for some of our work in each category.

Header Photo (from left): Ron Nichols, General Manager, LADWP; Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Evan Gillespie, Sierra Club; Mary Leslie, LABC President; Eric Garcetti, LA City Councilmember at the Mayor’s April 2012 signing of the ordinance authorizing new solar program for the city of LA.

Housing & Transportation: Building Livable Communities

The LABC has a long history of focusing on the housing affordability gap in Los Angeles County, where inadequate public transportation and a lack of affordable workplace housing have worsened traffic congestion and harmed business’ ability to recruit and retain workers. The LABC’s Housing Scorecard has detailed the scope of the region’s housing crisis and offered constructive policy proposals to help employers meet the housing and transportation needs of our region. The LABC was also an early supporter of Measure R, a half-cent sales tax approved by Los Angeles County voters in 2008 to provide additional funding for transit projects.

LABC’s Studies on Workforce Housing

Building Livable Communities: Enhancing Economic Competitiveness in Los Angeles

In October 2012, the LABC Institute released Building Livable Communities: Enhancing Economic Competitiveness in Los Angeles, produced in collaboration with Paul Habibi, Professor of Real Estate at the UCLA Anderson School of Business. The report was guided by a Livable Communities Advisory Committee composed of public- and private-sector housing and transportation leaders, and was commissioned as a follow-up to the LABC’s 2008 Workforce Housing Scorecard for Los Angeles.

The report examines the current supply of workforce housing in Greater Los Angeles – an issue critical to the region’s economic competitiveness – in light of the housing crisis and economic downturn from which L.A. is struggling to recover.The report finds that failing to adequately address the widening housing affordability gap will cause the region to become far less attractive to current and future employers, and less competitive against other metropolitan areas where quality workforce housing is in far greater supply.Proactive public policy solutions are critical to meeting the need for workforce housing and ensuring Los Angeles remains a world-class destination for the nation’s leading employers and talent. Chief among these solutions is support for the expansion of the region’s transit system and the encouragement of housing development along rail and rapid bus corridors – not simply near transit stations.

The study finds that improving connections to the transit system for people living near these corridors links them to job centers, and makes the development of workforce housing far more feasible. Connecting workforce housing to employment centers also creates “livable communities” that lower transportation costs, travel time, regional congestion, pollution, and other negative side effects of our workforce housing shortage.

Workforce Housing Scorecard for Los Angeles

Released in September 2008, the Workforce Housing Scorecard describes the factors leading to the significant jobs/housing imbalance and quantifies the severity of the problem. For example, between 1990 and 2007, Los Angeles County reported a net gain of 1,433,531 new residents but added only 194,554 housing units – a seven-fold differential.

According to the Scorecard, nearly two decades of rising housing costs have squeezed low and middle income residents, causing many to sink an increasingly large share of their income into their place of residence. In 2007, a family earning the countywide median income of $53,000 per year spent more than 50 percent of their earnings to purchase a home in Los Angeles County – far greater than the 30 percent recommended by experts.

Los Angeles Employer Assisted Housing Handbook

Released in October 2009, the LABC report, titled the Los Angeles Employer Assisted Housing Handbook, argues that Employer Assisted Housing (EAH) programs can play a pivotal role in improving regional economic competitiveness and jobs/housing balance in the short-term, and work as part of a long-term economic development strategy that includes encouraging smart growth, investing in public transportation and building a vibrant clean-tech economy.

Energy & Environment: CLEAN LA Solar Program for the City of LA

Click here to see the full list of CLEAN LA Solar Program Endorsers

Introduction

Sustainability is at the core of LABC’s advocacy, research and programming efforts. Since 2009, we have collaborated with a wide range of stakeholders to design, develop and advocate for a rooftop solar program that would benefit Los Angeles residents, businesses and the city at large. The policy, formally called a solar “feed-in tariff,” or FiT, is now known in Los Angeles by the name CLEAN LA (Clean Local Energy Accessible Now).

CLEAN LA’s premise is simple: in a land of abundant sunshine, rooftop solar power has the potential to be a tremendous resource that would provide significant renewable energy at a reasonable cost. By incentivizing residents and business-owners to install rooftop solar panels, the CLEAN LA solar program will provide environmental, economic & social benefits for all of Los Angeles, including job creation and clean reliable power that will help the city meet its renewable energy goals. These benefits are summarized here.

Winter 2013 Update

LABC garnered an enormous win—after 3 years of research, outreach and advocacy on the part of the LABC and our CLEAN LA Solar Coalition partners, LABC and the Coalition successfully carved out a major role for the private sector to continue benefitting from solar on commercial, industrial and retail rooftops. In addition this program will create an opportunity to create a new market on multi-family apartment buildings. The new solar feed-in tariff (FiT) program will be a major economic driver for Los Angeles, creating 4,500 jobs and generating a half-billion dollars in economic investment and will generate over $300 million in federal tax credits for LA businesses by 2016.

On Friday, January 11, the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners voted to approve the 100-megawatt feed-in tariff (FiT) program for Los Angeles, clearing the way for the largest urban rooftop solar program of its kind in the nation. The vote authorizes the DWP to move forward in February and to begin to offer the first of five tranches of 20 megawatts.

The program establishes a fixed price of 17 cents per kilowatt-hour, which the DWP staff says will be a determining factor to encourage participation. We are particularly proud of the inclusion of a “set-aside” allocation for small projects (30-150kw) in each of the five 20-megawatt allocations. The allocation for small projects will ensure that all Angelenos can participate—local businesses, small warehouses, and multi-family residential buildings will benefit from the program.

For more information regarding the program, please visit the LAWDP website.

Studies

Underpinning LABC’s work on this issue is a robust partnership with two of the city’s premier academic institutions, UCLA and USC. Prominent researchers have found that the CLEAN LA solar plan would create thousands of local jobs, generate as much as $2 billion in private investment, and take advantage of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of federal tax incentives. Further, the program can provide opportunities for low-income apartment dwellers to benefit from solar installations on their rooftops.

These studies have proposed detailed program guidelines, and have found that a well-designed program would be cost-effective for ratepayers, while giving the LADWP access to a significant source of clean, local energy. By demonstrating both economic and environmental benefits, these reports have added an important dimension to the policy debate. Click here to learn about these studies and to see testimonials of city business, environmental and political leaders.

LABC’s Solar Studies

1. Designing an Effective Feed-in Tariff for Greater Los Angeles, UCLA (PDF)

2. Bringing Solar Energy to Los Angeles: An Assessment of the Feasibility and Impacts of an In-basin Solar Feed-in Tariff Program, UCLA (PDF)

3. Implementing Feed-in Tariff Programs: Comparative Analyses and Lessons Learned, UCLA (PDF)

4. Making a Market: Multifamily Rooftop Solar and Social Equity in Los Angeles, UCLA and USC (PDF)

5. Empowering LA’s Solar Workforce: New Policies that Deliver Investments and Jobs, UCLA and USC (PDF)

Recent Media Coverage

1. The Los Angeles Business Journal, April 30 2012: LABC President Mary Leslie’s Op-ed, Sky’s the Limit for Rooftop Solar Power

2. KPCC, April 27 2012: Sustainability Summit Preview and CLEAN LA Discussed

3. LA Daily News, April 25 2012: Oped: L.A. shows that solar power isn’t just for the wealthy

4. LA Times, April 23 2012: Solar power producers hesitate to embrace new DWP program

5. Huffington Post, April 11, 2012: A Cost Effective Solution to Building Stable Clean Energy Markets

6. Los Angeles Business Journal, April 4, 2012: DWP Establishes Solar Power Buy-Back Program for Building Owners

Recent Press Releases

1. April 26, 2012: More than 12,000 Acres Atop LA City Rooftops Provide Huge Opportunity for Solar Development

2. April 3, 2012: Rooftop Solar Energy Program Wins Critical Approval From Los Angeles City Council

3. November 15, 2011: Report Finds that LA Lags on Solar Energy, Offers Policy Solutions to Put Angelenos to Work

4. June 25, 2011: CLEAN LA Solar Plan Supports Governor’s Vision for Local, Renewable Power

5. June 6, 2011: LA Business Council Wins Major Environmental Award

6. April 12, 2011: Apartment Buildings are Huge Source for Solar Energy in LA; Installations Could Begin as Soon as Next Year

Letters

1. March 1, 2011: CLEAN LA Coalition Letter to City Leaders.