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Agoura Hills official reports Clean Power Alliance moves toward asset ownership, sponsors bill to expand authority
Summary
Mayor Pro Tim Klein Lopez reported April 8 that Clean Power Alliance will pursue ownership of energy assets to speed local solar and battery projects and is sponsoring a bill (sponsored by Assembly member Jackie Irwin) to allow community choice aggregators to own transmission assets; the CPA committee advanced the bill 14–0.
Agoura Hills — Mayor Pro Tim Klein Lopez reported to the City Council April 8 on recent Clean Power Alliance (CPA) developments, including a shift toward owning energy assets and sponsorship of state legislation to expand community choice authorities.
Klein Lopez, who said his two-year term as CPA board chair is ending, told the council the board elected a new chair, Robert Parkhurst of Sierra Madre, to begin July 1. He described CPA’s strategy to move from contractor-based delivery of rooftop solar and battery projects toward direct asset ownership to reduce delays that arise when multiple member jurisdictions and contractors operate at different speeds.
“We are moving into the ownership space of things,” Klein Lopez said, noting that local ownership could make CPA more nimble in deploying rooftop solar, batteries and potentially transmission infrastructure to address affordability and reliability.
Klein Lopez also said CPA is sponsoring a bill being carried by Assembly member Jackie Irwin intended to permit community choice aggregators to own transmission lines — a function currently limited to municipal utilities or investor-owned utilities. He reported the bill passed the utilities and energy committee 14–0.
The update also highlighted related regional and county actions mentioned earlier in the meeting, such as coordinated wildfire prevention planning and a $14 million county water project in Malibu to improve fire-response water availability.
Next steps: CPA will continue policy work on asset ownership and state-level advocacy for the sponsored legislation; local cities that partner with CPA should anticipate outreach about new program timelines as the agency considers direct ownership and associated funding and procurement steps.
