A major portion of California’s distribution system is not meeting today’s electrical grid needs and goals, according to Lorenzo Kristof in a November webinar sponsored by the San Diego Energy District. Technology is circumventing regulation, he argued, and community choice aggregators could take vital roles in that transformation.

California’s power industry is slowly being reshaped, pushed largely by new technologies that is automating the delivery of power. Emblematic of this reshaping is the formation of community choice aggregators throughout the state in which they are taking over power distribution to residents from the three major utilities. There are now over 20 CCAs scattered throughout the state.

A series of webinars organized by the San Diego Energy District described the history and rapid formation of CCAs and the roles they can play in the future as communities and utilities face major environmental catastrophes, not only wildfires, but earthquakes and floods that wipe out major utility transmission lines which not only utilities but CCAs depend on to get power to their ratepayers.

Kristov, a former executive at the California Independent System Operator, speaking in the November 2019 webinar said, “The things happening in San Diego and elsewhere will have an impact. CCAs will have a large role in shifting the distribution system. (Yet) it (the distribution system) does not meet today’s needs and goals.” He argued that technology is circumventing regulation. “Changes are being driven from the bottom up,” he argued.

Kristov laid out two complementary policy initiatives needed to achieve the state’s goals, both short-term and long-term. He is working with the Santa Rosa Planning Center to integrate utility planning with local community planning in a program called Advanced Community Energy (ACE). He defines it as a state program to provide funding and expert support to all California local governments to plan and implement local energy projects.

Kristov argued that cities do their land use planning, zoning, and housing density independently of utilities. Meanwhile, the state mandate is to reach zero fossil fuel use by 2045. Utilities will be redesigning their generation mix to be 100% electricity while city planners will be independently planning to increase electric vehicle charging stations and electrifying their transportation systems. The utilities need to work with the cities in their planning of land use, zoning and housing density, Kristov says.

The wildfires that have devastated many communities in the state over the past two years and subsequent public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) have provided opportunities for the CCAs to take on new roles that were not defined in their originating regulations.  The California Legislature has passed several bills in 2018 and 2019 that are meant to support CCAs in developing services in local communities including fostering communication, developing microgrids and providing funding to allow residents to install solar and battery backup systems. But CCAs are having difficulties taking on those roles.

 The formation of Community Choice Aggregators has picked up speed over the past two to three years from one in 2010 to nearly 30 CCAs today.  They provide power to cities and counties throughout California, and are now providing power to over 100,000 ratepayers in the state. But they need to extend their services and find a new identity if they are to move beyond serving as appendages of the major utilities in California.

CCAs must send their power to host utilities for deliver to their customers. The way forward, say leaders in the CCA movement are they must act as facilitators in their local communities by taking control of essential electrical services in high risk environments.