Climate Policy Action - 2021 Highlights

December 28, 2021

min

Karinna Gonzalez

Hammond Climate Solutions representative speaking at a Green New Deal press event

This year’s clean energy and climate justice policy advocacy was filled with ups, downs, wins and loses but the Hammond Climate Solutions team is grateful for the strides we were able to help with to ensure a just and livable future for all. Here is a look back on our policy work in 2021, much of which was done with various partners that we’re grateful to be working with.

Our policy advocacy kicked off with the introduction of California Assembly Bill 1139 (AB 1139), introduced by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez in February 2021. The bill is the most aggressive solar attack to date, and it would have made drastic changes to the rules for California’s net energy metering (NEM), the solar agreement, which would have resulted in payback periods for rooftop solar investments of over 45 years. In addition to changes for new solar producers, the bill proposed these changes for all existing customers as well, changing the presumed protections for over 1.3 million solar producers statewide. Our advocacy included meeting with the author of the bill and sponsors to advocate for changes, rallying voices in opposition when the bill was introduced in assembly committees and presentations to local and statewide organizations to collect sign-ons for multiple letters. Thankfully, we were successful in defeating the bill and in rallying enough opposition locally that none of the six assembly members representing San Diego County, aside from the bill’s author, voted yes. This was a huge victory as rooftop solar and energy storage is a key solution to stopping the climate crisis, lessening environmental racism, providing grid resilience and supporting green jobs!

In between the small wins and fights, we have been leading a year-long fight to protect and expand access to rooftop solar during the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) proceeding to determine the future solar agreement in the Golden State. Attacks from the California investor-owned utilities, Natural Resources Defense Council (which has a history of aligning with the monopoly utilities companies, which you can read about here) and other utility-aligned, anti-solar groups have resulted in a proposed decision to drastically reduce benefits for solar customers, making rooftop solar inaccessible to all but the very wealthy. Hammond Climate Solutions has helped to build a grassroots coalition of environmental and climate organizations, schools, cities, elected officials and more who are all standing up to protect and expand access to rooftop solar. Through our advocacy and coalition building, we have helped five cities in our region submit letters or resolutions to the CPUC and Governor Newsom, advocating for a strong net energy metering agreement, the agreement that has allowed rooftop solar to become increasingly accessible to working class families, schools, small businesses and nonprofits. More information on the recently-proposed decision, its impacts and how you can help protect rooftop solar as a climate solution can be found here.

Alongside efforts to protect rooftop solar and expand solar access in communities of concern, locally we were also very involved with a coalition advocating for the City of San Diego to cut ties with a fossil fuel corporation when renewing its gas and electric franchise agreements, which was up for renewal for the second time in a century. The gas and electric franchise agreements would have determined whether we could build a clean energy future or if we would have been locked into another long term agreement with dirty fossil fuels. After calling in to countless city council and committee meetings, attending meetings with city council members and organizing rallies and press conferences, we were confident that San Diegans made their voices clear that the broken energy system under San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) was not working, and after over an hour of public comments in opposition to awarding the franchise agreement to SDG&E, the city council disappointed us in a 6-3 vote. SDG&E promised programs and funding in order to secure the franchise agreements, including a Solar Equity Fund to subsidize solar for low-income families, however after a few stakeholder meetings which Hammond Climate Solutions attended, there has not been any progress in moving the program forward. We plan to stay engaged with helping shape the Solar Equity Fund to be as beneficial to San Diegans as possible.

Other energy related advocacy efforts have also included advocating for cities and San Diego County to join San Diego Community Power (SDCP), San Diego’s largest community choice energy program. This year, San Diego County and National City both joined SDCP, securing a pathway to 100 percent clean energy.

Although the majority of our advocacy this year has been energy related, we were also involved in a number of wins for building electrification ordinances around the county. Through our involvement in the San Diego Building Electrification Coalition, we were able to help in successfully urging Encinitas and Solana Beach to pass all electric building reach codes for new construction buildings, a huge win considering buildings make up a significant portion of the region’s greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to securing building electrification ordinances, we have also helped in advocating for a regional transportation plan, a truly innovative and first of its kind plan that will bring our regional transportation system to where it should be, getting people out of their cars and into other modes of sustainable transportation. Through our membership with the San Diego Green New Deal Alliance, we have also been advocating for zero carbon policies as well as family sustaining green jobs and a just transition for workers.

While most of our advocacy and policy work was focused on local and statewide efforts, Hammond Climate Solutions was also involved in a federal advocacy effort in partnership with the California Green New Deal Coalition to encourage a federal infrastructure package that would not only provide much needed funding for failing infrastructure, but also provide funding for climate and resiliency efforts with a focus on creating good green jobs.

Although this year has had climate activists on the defense fighting against utility attacks, we are hopeful next year will bring legislation and policies that can lead to a productive and meaningful 2022. In addition to our success in our policy advocacy, we have also had success with the programs that Hammond Climate Solutions manages and with the San Diego Climate Hub collaborations. To learn more about our other work throughout the year, visit our recent blog post, Celebrating Climate Action - 2021 Year in Review.

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Meet the San Diego County Leaders Advocating to Protect Rooftop Solar and Expand Equitable Access

Advocacy

December 2, 2021

min

Meet the San Diego County Leaders Advocating to Protect Rooftop Solar and Expand Equitable Access

As the year-long battle to save rooftop solar in California nears a final decision, local advocates are sending a loud and clear message: San Diegans want to protect rooftop solar and expand equitable access to solar and storage.

A year-long battle to save rooftop solar in California is nearing a final decision. Although going up against the monopoly utility companies and their allies has not been easy, local advocates have been successful in sending a loud and clear message: San Diegans want to protect rooftop solar and expand equitable access to solar and storage. A proposed net energy metering (NEM) decision is expected to be made in December with a final decision expected by February from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which will decide the future rooftop solar agreement in California, known as net energy metering 3.0 (NEM 3.0).

Along with our partners in San Diego, we helped grow a coalition of over 40 local environmental, climate justice and advocacy organizations, five cities, the state’s second largest community choice energy program, schools and local elected officials to weigh in on the net energy metering proceeding to advocate for the continued growth of rooftop solar. Over a year ago we reached out to San Diego-based solar advocates and helped establish and co-lead the Save California Solar coalition with the Solar Rights Alliance, which meets monthly and has many San Diego-based and statewide organizations involved.

The City of Solana Beach led the charge in September, becoming the first city in the region to adopt a net metering 3.0 resolution, which specifically called out the investor-owned utilities’ proposal and its potential to disrupt the market. The vote at Solana Beach’s Climate Action Commission and city council were unanimous after hearing many local organizations speak in support during public comments.

“I am completely in support of the resolution,” said Solana Beach Deputy Mayor Kristi Becker. “Everything we do on the city council, at the Climate Action Commission for the Clean Energy Alliance, we've all been trying to encourage renewable energy so we need to make sure that it remains affordable and we also have to make sure it is affordable for those in our communities of need.”

Following the Solana Beach resolution, the Chula Vista City Council and Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina sent letters to Governor Gavin Newsom, both advocating for the CPUC not to make any drastic changes to the current net energy metering policy, which has been very successful in finally making solar accessible to communities of concern.

In November, the City of San Diego, America’s second-best solar city, became the largest city in the state to weigh in on the proceeding. San Diego Councilmember Raul Campillo, who was one of the first elected officials in the state to issue a letter to Governor Newsom advocating for a solar-friendly net metering 3.0 agreement, called out the importance of this resolution during his remarks. “This {resolution} ensures that the City of San Diego has communicated its priorities to the state on this matter, and we cannot afford any changes to this {net metering} policy that slows down the process or limits accessibility to clean energy. This resolution speaks loudly and clearly that the City of San Diego wants to protect the environment, create good paying, high-skilled jobs, improve our energy resiliency and save ratepayers billions of dollars."

Shortly after San Diego’s resolution was approved, the City of Encinitas weighed in with a letter from the city council and Mayor Catherine Blakespear, which stated “the City of Encinitas was proud to be one of the first cities in the region to join a community choice energy program, San Diego Community Power (SDCP), and we have plans for our program to benefit the community in various ways, and net metering plays a role in our impact. The solar fees that are being proposed by the IOUs are fees that SDCP will not be able to avoid, meaning that rooftop solar for our community choice energy program customers may still be inaccessible despite SDCP’s solar-friendly NEM rate, which is bad for our community members, makes it harder and more expensive for SDCP to reach 100 percent clean energy and takes away from potential program opportunities to benefit the community.”

It is very clear that the organizations, elected officials and San Diego Community Power understand the impacts that a bad NEM 3.0 decision could have on the climate as well as local and statewide clean energy goals. In all of the local advocacy in meetings regarding net energy metering, SDG&E has been the only opposition, citing concerns over equity, which we believe are not only disingenuous, but unfounded. Very credible studies show that rooftop solar reduces rates for everyone because it reduces the cost of maintaining long distance power lines as well as wildfire costs associated with those power lines. A recent study by Vibrant Clean Energy shows rooftop solar can save California ratepayers $120 billion! Rooftop solar threatens the monopoly utilities’ profits, and that is their true motivation for advocating for reform. California’s investor-owned utility companies have not only tried making solar less accessible to all, they have also blocked efforts for community choice energy, community solar, on-bill solar financing and other tools to make solar more accessible.

The battle over the future of rooftop solar in California continues, but we hope that the CPUC commissioners will consider all of San Diego’s advocacy surrounding this issue and that the proposed decision released next month will reject elements of the IOUs’ proposal that would make it harder for communities of concern to go solar, namely high monthly solar fees, decreasing export compensation and instantaneous netting.

None of this work would be possible without the dedication and commitment from local advocates, the majority of which volunteer their time for this cause. Rooftop solar is a key climate solution, and with the devastating effects of the climate crisis already occurring throughout California, now is the time when we should be discussing how to incentivize more people, especially in communities of concern, to adopt solar and storage. A big thank you to the following organizations, schools, elected officials and cities:

San Diego Community Power
City of Encinitas
City of Chula Vista
City of San Diego
City of Solana Beach
Mayor Serge Dedina
Councilmember Raul Campillo
Carlsbad Unified School District
San Diego Democratic Socialists
San Diego Urban Sustainability Coalition
I Am Green
Citizens Climate Lobby San Diego
San Diego Green New Deal Alliance
Unitehere! Local 30
Associated Students of San Diego State University
Center for Sustainable Energy
GRID Alternatives San Diego
Climate Action Campaign
San Diego Climate Hub
San Diego Coastkeeper
Environmental Centers of San Diego
North County Climate Change Alliance
Samuel Lawrence Foundation
Surfrider San Diego
Bike San Diego
Protect Our Communities Foundation
League of Women Voters San Diego
San Diego Green Building Council
SanDiego350
South Bay Sustainable Communities
Climate Reality Project San Diego
BQuest Foundation
Business for Good San Diego
San Diego Energy District Foundation
CleanEarth4Kids.org
Uptown Tavern
San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action

We appreciate all of our partners in this effort and would like to give a special shout out to Climate Action Campaign, SanDiego350 and San Diego Urban Sustainability Coalition, along with the Solar Rights Alliance, which have attended countless meetings and presentations to move all of the aforementioned efforts forward.

More details about the NEM 3.0 proceeding can be found at www.HelpCleanEnergy.org.

Screenshot of the San Diego City Council's virtual meeting on the NEM 3.0 proceeding

San Diego Becomes the Largest City to Advocate for Continued Access to Rooftop Solar

Advocacy

November 15, 2021

min

San Diego Becomes the Largest City to Advocate for Continued Access to Rooftop Solar

On November 15, the City of San Diego became the largest city in the state to weigh in on the net energy metering proceeding, which is currently underway at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). A proposed net energy metering (NEM) decision is expected to be made by next month on the future rooftop solar agreement in California, known as net energy metering 3.0 (NEM 3.0).

The net metering resolution, which urges the CPUC to create a structure that will keep rooftop solar growing sustainably while expanding solar access to low-and-moderate income communities, was approved unanimously by the San Diego City Council today after receiving unanimous support during the San Diego Environment Committee last month. Local organizations SanDiego350, Climate Action Campaign, Protect Our Communities Foundation, CED Greentech and the San Diego Democrats for Environmental Action joined the Hammond Climate Solutions team in making verbal comments in support of the resolution today, emphasizing the importance of this decision in the middle of a climate emergency. Last month over 60 people made comments in favor of the resolution.

“Rooftop solar is a lynchpin in the city's legally-binding Climate Action Plan,” said Matthew Vasilakis, Co-Director of Policy with Climate Action Campaign. “We need to incentivize rooftop solar and storage with a strong NEM program and paired investments in communities of concern. That's how we build a climate resilient 100 percent clean energy system.”

Councilmember Raul Campillo, who was one of the first elected officials in the state to issue a letter to Governor Newsom advocating for a solar-friendly net metering 3.0 agreement, called out the importance of this resolution during his remarks today.

“This {resolution} ensures that the City of San Diego has communicated its priorities to the state on this matter, and we cannot afford any changes to this {net metering} policy that slows down the process or limits accessibility to clean energy. This resolution speaks loudly and clearly that the City of San Diego wants to protect the environment, create good paying, high-skilled jobs, improve our energy resiliency and save ratepayers billions of dollars."

Beyond the obvious carbon emissions reduction, local grid reliability and cost savings that come from the increased adoption of rooftop solar and energy storage, the San Diego region has thousands of local jobs at stake with this decision. Jake Marshall, Operations Manager with CED Greentech San Diego, a distribution company out of Mira Mesa, called in to support the resolution. Marshall’s comment highlighted the potential massive job loss that could result if the industry is forced to slow down.

“I personally employ 75 people in Mira Mesa, we have run the numbers and with the {investor-owned utilities’ anti-solar} proposals, our numbers will go down to 22 people.”

The resolution states that the City of San Diego “supports a CPUC NEM 3.0 decision, which emphasizes the sustainable growth of customer sited solar electric and energy storage facilities in order to meet California’s clean energy targets, particularly residential customers in disadvantaged communities” while also advocating to “reject elements of any proposal which will stifle sustainable growth of customer sited renewable generating facilities including high monthly fixed charges and avoided cost models which insufficiently account for the societal value of customer sited renewable generation.”

The resolution includes strong equity provisions, and Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe highlighted the importance of making solar jobs more accessible to communities of concern.

Council President Jennifer Campbell ended the discussion by calling out the intentions of the investor-owned utility companies.

“It's clear the investor-owned utilities are working hard to hamper solar energy growth, which is very short-sighted of them, as they could utilize this extra energy obtained to provide energy for other people in geographic areas that do not have as much sunshine as we have. The cost shifting that {the investor-owned utilities} are proposing will hurt our climate action goals, will hurt our green job growth and the affordability of those who wish to push solar on their roofs. Unfortunately it seems that their immediate bottom line is more important to them than a cleaner, green San Diego in which all income levels can participate in our abundant sunshine. Let the {C}PUC know that San Diego stands on the side of rooftop solar, especially in communities of concern, and all the benefits of it, from good paying local jobs to healthier neighborhoods and increased clean energy production as solar energy brings.”

Once again, the only comment that was not emphatically in support of protecting rooftop solar was from one San Diego Gas & Electric employee who urged the council to meet with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an organization who is known to side with the utilities on this issue (learn more in this blog post, How an Environmental Group Aligned with Monopoly Utilities to Squash Rooftop Solar).

The City of San Diego weighed in just in time before the anticipated proposed decision by the CPUC in December, while other cities and organizations in San Diego county have already gone on the record in support of protecting access to rooftop solar and energy storage. In September, the City of Solana Beach became the first city in the state to issue a resolution standing up for a strong net energy metering with a unanimous vote. San Diego Community Power, the community choice energy program for the cities of San Diego, Imperial Beach, Encinitas, La Mesa and Chula Vista, also submitted a letter jointly with San Jose Clean Energy, which highlighted the fact that the net metering proposal by the investor-owned utilities would result in fees that community choice energy customers would not be able to avoid. Earlier last week, the City of Chula Vista voted unanimously to send a letter and approve a resolution calling for the CPUC to create a policy in which solar is able to continue to grow, and this week, Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina released a letter in support of a strong net metering 3.0 agreement.

As the proposed decision by the California Public Utilities Commission rapidly approaches and the final decision expected by February of next year, local activists are hoping this resolution will lead to San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria weighing in as well to leverage his existing relationship with Governor Gavin Newsom.

For latest information and up-to-date calls to action, visit our net metering toolkit at www.HelpCleanEnergy.org

The City of San Diego’s Environment Committee Stands up for Rooftop Solar

Policy

October 21, 2021

min

The City of San Diego’s Environment Committee Stands up for Rooftop Solar

Today, the City of San Diego’s Environment Committee took a huge step in supporting rooftop solar by passing a resolution that advocates for a strong net energy metering 3.0 (NEM 3.0), the future solar agreement in California that is being determined by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). If the resolution is adopted by the full city council, the City of San Diego could be the second city in the state, following Solana Beach, to issue a resolution that advocates for the continued growth of solar, rejecting the investor-owned utilities’ proposal to extend payback periods for all solar projects, even in communities of concern, and impose the highest monthly solar fees in the nation.

The resolution passed unanimously in a 4-0 vote, urging the CPUC to reject any proposal that would stop rooftop solar from continuing to grow while urging the commissioners to consider alternatives that would expand solar access in communities of concern. Over 60 public comments, both written and verbal, were heard from local organizations that were overwhelming in support of a strong net metering, including comments from representatives of Climate Action Campaign, SanDiego350, GRID Alternatives San Diego, San Diego Democrats for Environmental Action, Protect Our Communities Foundation and others, all of which urged the committee to approve the resolution. The key role NEM 3.0 has in increasing the adoption of rooftop solar and moving away from consuming dirty, harmful fossil fuels was noted by speakers.

The draft resolution states that “San Diego City Council supports a CPUC NEM 3.0 decision, which emphasizes the sustainable growth of customer sited solar electric and energy storage facilities in order to meet California’s clean energy targets, particularly residential customers in disadvantaged communities” and urges the CPUC to reject any proposal that undervalues the societal benefits of renewable generation.

Today’s vote is a big win for over 30 local San Diego environmental and advocacy organizations, schools, cities, student organizations and equity groups who are working tirelessly to advocate for a strong NEM 3.0 to keep rooftop solar as a key climate solution and a tool to reach 100 percent clean energy targets. Rooftop solar also provides local green jobs, supports the regional economy, offers grid resilience and helps ratepayers avoid rate increases from additional utility infrastructure, which the IOUs get a guaranteed return on investment from. A recent Vibrant Clean Energy Study shows that California ratepayers can save $120 billion from rooftop solar while reducing the risk of wildfires, which ratepayers now must pay for.

This decision comes just after the San Diego Community Power Board of Directors issued a letter to the CPUC commissioners and Governor Gavin Newsom stating similar concerns over the high fixed monthly charges included in the IOUs’ proposal and the devastating impacts that could have on rooftop solar adoption. The resolution is now headed to the full city council for a vote, which is anticipated to take place before the CPUC’s proposed decision is released by mid-December of this year. The City of Chula Vista is expected to vote on a similar resolution in the coming weeks.

For latest information and up-to-date calls to action, visit our net metering 3.0 toolkit.