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Central Coast Community Energy touts local investments, battery storage while fielding safety and program questions
Summary
3CE told the Gonzales City Council it serves about 1.2 million customers, described utility-scale and residential battery programs, and said the agency has invested funds for electrification in Gonzales; council members pressed the agency about project locations, incentives and lithium battery safety.
Sofia Schwartzke, community relations manager for Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), briefed the Gonzales City Council on June 2 about 3CE programs, local investments and battery storage projects and answered council questions about incentives, locations and safety.
“3CE provides clean and renewable energy to 1,200,000 people, which is about 94% of eligible customers,” Schwartzke said during her presentation.
Schwartzke highlighted several large projects and battery-storage facilities that 3CE has contracted with or invested in, and described residential and member-agency incentive programs. She said 3CE had invested more than $319,000 in Gonzales electrification efforts, including $65,000 toward all-electric farm equipment, $200,000 toward an electric school bus, $30,000 for home electrification and $24,000 in electric vehicle rebates. She added the agency has more than $300,000 available to Gonzales for fleet planning and EV charging infrastructure this year.
On residential battery incentives, Schwartzke described 3CE’s rebate ($300 per kilowatt-hour of battery capacity) and said customers can stack that incentive with state or federal programs. She explained why batteries matter to grid reliability and to capturing excess daytime solar for evening use.
Council members asked about project locations, program access for Spanish speakers and the effect of upcoming changes to solar compensation. Schwartzke said 3CE increased bilingual staff and translated materials, and provides one-on-one customer support in Spanish.
Several council members, and a member identified as “chief,” raised concerns about lithium battery fires after the Moss Landing incident. Schwartzke responded that 3CE did not invest in the Moss Landing indoor facility, that most modern battery energy storage systems are containerized outdoors, and that, in her remarks, “the global failure rate for grid scale battery energy storage systems has actually dropped 97% between 2018 and 2023.” She said facilities the agency invests in comply with current fire-code and installation standards.
The council did not take action on 3CE recommendations at the meeting. Staff provided 3CE contact information and said account managers could assist city staff with accessing member-agency programs and available funds.
