San Diego Community Power details Solar Advantage program, first carport project in Chula Vista

San Diego Community Power staff updated the Citizens Advisory Committee on May 8 about the Solar Advantage program, the agency’s locally focused community solar effort built from CPUC green‑access allocations. Staff described secured projects, the CPUC procedural changes that expanded project eligibility and the agency’s customer auto‑enrollment plan for low‑income customers in disadvantaged communities.

Tessa Tabar, program manager for community solar at San Diego Community Power, told the committee the program combines the former Disadvantaged Communities Green Tariff (DAC‑GT) allocation with the Community Solar Green Tariff (CSGT) allocation after a recent CPUC decision. “When those projects come online, we offer a 20% overall bill discount,” Tabar said, explaining that discount is automatic and stacks on top of state CARE or FERA discounts for eligible customers.

Tabar said SDCP inherited roughly 14 megawatts of DAC‑GT and 4 megawatts of CSGT allocation and that the CPUC’s final decision removed CSGT while folding its megawatts into the DAC‑GT pool, increasing the program’s total capacity. After the procedural change, the program was renamed Solar Advantage and now allows projects to be sited within five miles of a disadvantaged community — a change staff said meaningfully expanded eligible project locations in SDCP’s urban service territory.

In the agency’s first solicitation round (August 2023–February 2024), staff said it received 10 bids from two developers. Four bids met the Solar Advantage minimum size requirement (500 kW) and totalled about 4.61 MW. The board approved a first power‑purchase agreement for a 1.7 MW carport canopy project in Chula Vista (corner of Broadway and H Street) developed by Lumenia; staff said that PPA was approved by the board in January. Tabar said the Lumenia project is expected to serve roughly 750 residential customers in the top 10% of CalEnviroScreen‑identified disadvantaged communities and that all customers served by Solar Advantage projects will be auto‑enrolled and receive the 20% discount once the projects are commissioned. Tabar said the four projects from the first round will auto‑enroll about 2,000 customers and that roughly 25% of the total eligible capacity has been secured from that round.

Staff described the program’s customer eligibility and enrollment priorities: eligible customers are residential accounts in SDCP’s service territory located in census tracts in the top 10% on CalEnviroScreen 4 and enrolled in CARE or FERA; enrollment priority is determined by most recent payment history (four full/partial payments in the last eight months is highest priority). Tabar said the Lumenia project’s customer auto‑enrollment is expected in the third quarter of 2027 after construction and commissioning.

Committee members asked about storage and safety. Tabar said voluntary inclusion of battery storage is now allowed under the CPUC final decision; projects that responded to the first solicitation did not include storage. She also described developer commitments in the Lumenia PPA to use local labor and prevailing wages during construction. One committee member urged staff to consider additional measures to attract developers to small infill projects and to align projects with local climate and workforce goals; Tabar said staff waived a requirement that bidders must have a completed utility interconnection study at the time of bid to reduce developer risk.

Action and next steps: Tabar said a second RFO closed in September and the agency intends to go to the board this month to request approval to proceed on a PPA with the developer First Light for three projects; staff said two additional RFOs will be run quickly to fill the remaining roughly 15.55 MW allocation. The presentation was received by the committee; staff said they will return with procurement progress and timing updates.

No committee vote was taken on program direction at the meeting.