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Civil grand jury urges faster Clean Power SF rollout; PUC, mayor disagree on use of unbundled RECs
Summary
The civil grand jury urged rapid expansion of Clean Power SF and recommended limited use of unbundled renewable energy credits (RECs) to meet near-term goals. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the mayor's office said the program is designed to procure bundled renewable energy and to offer two launch products; supervisors noted the need to integrate GoSolar SF and set a target for integration funding by May 2017.
A civil grand jury report presented to the Government and Oversight Committee on Oct. 9 recommended accelerating Clean Power SF, permitting limited use of unbundled renewable energy credits (RECs) to improve near-term affordability, and planning program growth quickly to meet the city's greenhouse-gas reduction targets.
Herb Felsenfeld, who chaired the grand-jury committee on Clean Power SF, said the program as designed at launch would be small relative to some Bay Area community-choice aggregators and must expand quickly. "We can delay no longer," Felsenfeld told supervisors, urging the city and the mayor to use their offices to help the initiative succeed.
The mayor's office and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) representatives responded that the new Clean Power SF products are designed to purchase high-quality bundled renewable energy rather than rely on unbundled RECs. Roger Kim, senior adviser to Mayor Lee, said the administration does not "think it's necessary nor appropriate to use unbundled RECs in this program," arguing bundled power better assures that the electricity customers buy is actually produced by renewable sources.
SFPUC assistant general manager Barbara Hale explained the bundled/unbundled distinction and why the PUC initially proposes bundled power at launch: bundled REC purchases retire renewable attributes tied to specific generators at the same time as the energy is procured, reducing confusion for customers and ensuring onsite linkage to generation attributes. The PUC said it plans a two-product launch: a default "green" product targeted between 33% and 50% renewable content and a premium "super green" 100% renewable option.
Supervisors and the PUC also discussed integrating the city's GoSolar SF rooftop-solar incentives with Clean Power SF. Committee members accepted a planning timeline recommendation that would allow GoSolar SF integration and funding of incentive payments approximately one year after first service to Clean Power SF customers — the committee recorded May 2017 as a milestone.
Committee action
The committee read the Board's proposed responses to the grand-jury recommendations into the record, discussed timing and program design, and moved items 3-5 forward as committee reports; the committee also set a specific implementation target (May 2017) for elements of GoSolar SF integration tied to program revenue and budgeting.
Why it matters
Clean Power SF is the city's community-choice aggregation program and is intended to give San Franciscans access to more renewable electricity at competitive prices while creating local clean-energy jobs. The grand-jury report and the PUC response outline a practical tension between ambitious 100% renewable goals and the near-term financial and procurement constraints of launching a locally managed program.
