REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Approve Actions Related to the Formation of, and Sunnyvale's Membership in, the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority, an Independent Joint Powers Authority, to Establish a Community Choice Energy Program, Find that these Actions are Exempt from CEQA, and Approve Budget Modification No. 20
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
Community Choice Energy (CCE) is a process authorized by California law that enables cities to pool customer electricity demand within their jurisdiction to directly procure or invest in electric power supplies. CCE is garnering substantial interest among California communities for its potential to provide greener power at competitive, currently lower, rates, in addition to other community benefits. The two operating multi-jurisdictional CCE programs in Marin and Sonoma counties provide useful benchmarks for program evaluation, development, and operation.
Prompted by the featured role CCE plays as a proposed strategy in Sunnyvale's adopted Climate Action Plan, the City Council prioritized and funded an initial study of a CCE program for the South Bay. The Cities of Cupertino and Mountain View and the County of Santa Clara joined Sunnyvale in a partnership to assess and potentially form a multi-jurisdictional CCE program. The initial Assessment Report was completed in May 2015 and concluded that market and program conditions are favorable for proceeding to the next step - a detailed Technical Feasibility Study.
In July 2015, Council approved continuing the partnership (the Silicon Valley Community Choice Energy Partnership) and conducting the Technical Feasibility Study phase. In parallel, the Partnership also conducted community and business engagement and collaborated to develop the interagency model for prospectively forming a CCE program. The partnership was expanded to include eight additional communities in Santa Clara County, forging the prospect of up to 12 agencies joining a program.
The Techni...
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