Community-wide Clean Energy: Innovative Solutions for Local Governments

Community-wide clean energy programs, which offer residential customers access to off-site clean energy, are an increasingly important tool for local governments. Across the United States, local governments are exploring new ways to aggregate demand and give residents and businesses greater access to clean energy while also supporting local clean energy and sustainability goals. Two approaches gaining traction are Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) and utility-enabled community clean energy procurement programs. Local governments should understand the differences between these approaches and the state policies and regulatory structures that enable them to determine which model would work best in their communities.

Join World Resources Institute (WRI)’s US Polsky Energy Center for a one-hour webinar that explores how local governments are expanding access to community-wide clean energy. This session will provide an overview of CCA and utility-enabled community clean energy procurement programs, including how they work, what opportunities they create for communities, and how state policies and Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) shape their implementation. WRI will also explore regional differences in these approaches, including why CCA programs have emerged in some parts of the country while utility-enabled models are gaining traction in others. Participants will hear directly from Glade Sowards of Salt Lake City about the Utah Renewable Communities Program and Robert McCracken of Cincinnati about Ohio’s Community Choice Aggregation programs, including lessons learned and opportunities for local government engagement.