The City of LA recently released it’s plan to transform its energy supply to achieve 100 percent clean energy by 2045. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) partnered with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on the Los Angeles 100 Percent Renewable Energy Study (LA100), which analyzed different paths the city can take to achieve renewable energy in the future.
LA100 helped LA set ambitious goals to transform it’s electricity supply and electrify the buildings and transportation sectors to “combat climate change while capturing health and economic benefits,” the study reported. While a path to achieve this goal is yet to be decided on, the study is a starting point to equip LA decision makers with the answers to such questions:
- What are the pathways and costs to achieve a 100% renewable electricity supply while electrifying key end uses and maintaining the current high degree of reliability?
- What are potential benefits to the environment and health?
- How might the economy respond to such a change?
- How can communities shape these changes to prioritize environmental justice?
“LA is leading the state and the country by showing us that a 100% renewable energy future is doable and necessary,” Luis Amezcua, senior campaign representative for the My Generation Campaign, said. “We applaud LA for setting the precedent and achieving this critical milestone that other utilities will look to as they set their own path toward achieving a 100 percent renewable energy future.”
The study provided four scenarios to evaluate a path to 100 percent renewable energy in LA: the SB100, a scenario that is based on current California law, Senate Bill 100 requiring that all of the electricity sales be renewable or zero carbon by 2045; Early & No Biofuels, the only scenario that would achieve LA’s 100 percent clean energy goal by 2035; Transmission Focus, which entails building new transmission lines and upgrading existing ones, and Limited New Transmission, a scenario that doesn’t allow any new building of transmission lines.
“The Sierra Club and its allies have led the call for LA to end its dependence on fossil fuels, and we are more than ready to be part of the solution as LADWP works to build a 100 percent renewable grid that is reliable, affordable, and resilient,” David Haake, chair of the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter’s Clean Break Committee, said. “LA’s unprecedented investment in renewables will slash local air pollution and create good paying, high-quality, local jobs for a more reliable fossil fuel-free grid as soon as 2035.”
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