California CCAs Secure 18 Gigawatts in New-Build Clean Energy Contracts, Posting Record-Breaking Annual Increase

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 7, 2024
Contact: Jackson McDonough
(925) 597-1995 | jackson@cal-cca.org

California CCAs Secure 18 Gigawatts in New-Build Clean Energy Contracts, Posting Record-Breaking Annual Increase
Community choice energy providers driving progress toward a cleaner, more reliable grid and embracing innovative financing tools to reduce costs for customers

Sacramento, Calif.—The California Community Choice Association (CalCCA) announced today that Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) in California have signed 346 long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) totaling over 18,000 megawatts (MW) with new-build clean energy resources. CCAs added a record 4,300 MW in contracts in just the past year, their largest annual increase to date.

“CCAs are not only accelerating California’s clean energy transition, but they’re also procuring to secure long-term reliability and reduce costs for customers,” said CalCCA Chief Executive Officer Beth Vaughan. “Their commitment to a diverse mix of new renewable and energy storage resources ensures a more resilient, cost-effective energy future for communities statewide.

CCA PPAs equate to:

• 18,000+ MW of new solar, wind, geothermal, energy storage, and demand response resources
• 116 clean energy projects totaling more than 7,900 MW that are already operational and serving CCA customers (Over 2,000 MW became operational in the last year)
• More than $37 billion committed by CCAs to build and operate clean energy resources
• Support for more than 36,000 construction jobs

Each November for the last seven years, CalCCA has reported on the progress California’s not-for-profit community choice energy providers are making in securing new-build clean energy resources through long-term PPAs. CCAs procure power for more than 14 million customers—more than one-third of California’s population—in 200+ cities and counties throughout the state.

New to this year’s CCA PPA announcement is an interactive GIS map that includes CCA service areas and the operational new-build clean energy resources that supply their power. A spreadsheet of CCA PPAs and static map of project locations is available here.

Community choice energy providers have amassed a total of 346 long-term PPAs, amounting to 18,285 MW of new-build clean energy resources. CCA contracts include over 10,500 MW in renewable energy and more than 7,600 MW in energy storage—with standalone energy storage capacities more than doubling in the last year (see below for totals by technology type).

CCAs’ Long-Term PPAs range from 10 to 27 years in length and average 16 years across all agreements. Long-term PPAs reduce power purchasing costs by protecting contracts from exposure to market price fluctuations. CCAs are also leveraging their tax-exempt status to utilize innovative financing tools that lower energy costs.

Through the California Community Choice Financing Authority (CCCFA), a public agency formed to help CCAs finance clean energy purchases, CCAs can access lower energy contract prices by using “green bond” prepayment transactions. This approach can reduce CCA PPA costs by 10 percent or more. The founding members of CCCFA welcomed five new associate members to the agency this year, growing its membership to ten CCAs. To date, CCCFA has issued $16 billion in prepayment bonds, equating to savings of approximately $100 million per year for community choice customers or nearly $3 billion over the lifetime of the contracts. More on CCA green bonds here.

Alongside affordability, reliability is a top CCA priority. Over the last year, CCAs continued to invest heavily in both standalone and hybrid/co-located energy storage, crucial resources for the state’s clean energy transition. This strategic expansion of storage resources includes diverse technologies including lithium-ion batteries, vanadium redox flow batteries, and compressed air energy storage. Community choice energy providers have also procured 617 MW of long duration storage with an eight-hour discharge capability which will play a critical role in stabilizing the grid and meeting California’s long-term clean energy targets.

Notable this year is the increase in amount of new out-of-state wind agreements as seven CCAs inked contracts totaling 1.6 GW with the SunZia wind project, now under construction in central New Mexico. This project will complement California’s abundant solar energy production by providing a steady source of clean electricity during peak demand periods as solar output declines in the late afternoon and early evening. A new 550-mile transmission line will deliver wind power generated by SunZia to California.

CCAs’ ambitious energy contracting helps ensure the delivery of clean, reliable energy to their customers. It also helps them meet, and in some cases exceed state requirements (mid-term reliability, renewables portfolio standard/SB 350)—along with local mandates set by CCA boards. The graphic below shows the capacity and types of energy resources procured by CCAs and their online years.

 

 

CCA clean energy projects are in 30 California counties, from Humboldt County in the north to San Diego County in the south, as well as in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. CalCCA’s new interactive map allows you to explore operational CCA power projects and even filter by the resource type. Click into the color-coded project bubbles to learn more about each PPA associated with the project. This new resource offers a dynamic way to view operational CCA power projects like never before! Find this new interactive map here and the classic PPA map here.

CCAs collectively serve about 37% of the load in the territories of the state’s three main investor-owned utilities (Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Southern California Edison).

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About CalCCA
Launched in 2016, the California Community Choice Association (CalCCA) represents California’s community choice electricity providers before the state Legislature and at regulatory agencies, advocating for a level playing field and opposing policies that unfairly discriminate against CCAs and their customers. There are 25 operational CCA programs in California serving more than 14 million customers—about one-third of the state’s population—in 200+ cities and counties throughout the state. For more information about CalCCA, visit www.cal-cca.org.