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 California has called on utilities to increase renewable resources in their total power mix
by the year 2010. SCPPA’s members have made the commitment to meet or exceed this goal, and currently receive renewable energy each year through Green Power agreements, including landfill gas, wind, solar, and geothermal. SCPPA’s members are striving to attain a renewable power mix of 20% by 2010, and 33% by 2020. SCPPA is committed to sustainable, renewable resources like solar and wind, and is continuing to find new ways for its members to ensure that energy supplies remain abundant.
One of the ways SCPPA has been successful, is developing a common vision for its members and a basis for joint action through its strategic planning process. Over the years, SCPPA’s success has been largely attributable to the member’s effective use of joint action. In its visionary planning, SCPPA’s members have added locally-owned generation, with the addition of the Magnolia Power Project (MPP), its first wholly-owned and operated power plant that began operation in 2005. MPP operates under the most stringent environmental standards in the nation, and serves the communities of Anaheim, Burbank, Cerritos, Colton, Glendale, and Pasadena. The members also realized a need to hedge the volatile natural gas prices and invested in natural gas reserves. SCPPA also continues its commitment in renewable energy with its latest request for proposals and consideration for additional renewable resource supplies.
SCPPA has evolved from its historical role of providing financing for our members’ generation and transmission projects. SCPPA serves the members in many other ways by providing effective forums of collaboration though committees such as Customer Service, Finance, Public Benefit Programs, Resource Planning, Transmission and Distribution, Engineering and Operations, Natural Gas, and Renewable Energy. In addition to assisting the members with best practices, it also serves as a conduit for joint contracting for services and fuel acquisition for power generation, as well as, acquisition of natural gas reserves, and renewable supplies such as wind and geothermal. Today, SCPPA participates in five major generation projects and three transmission projects, bringing electricity to Southern California from Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. SCPPA also has interests in two natural gas reserve projects, providing a secure source of gas for its participants. On a combined basis, SCPPA’s members currently deliver electricity and services to over five million people.
SCPPA remains a strong advocate on the regulatory fronts as well, and continues its involvement at both state and federal levels to protect represented customers by assuring adequate resources, reliability, and responsibility to the communities we proudly serve. SCPPA members believe that local control is at the heart of utility governance with local elected bodies best able to make decisions regarding electric providers that serve their communities. SCPPA members also work to ensure that state and national regulation is in the best interest of their customers and the environment. SCPPA members helped shape the “energy independence” bills that ultimately passed the House and Senate, by advocating needed reforms and expansions to the Clean Renewable Energy Bond (CREB) program and seeking sponsors for key bills to achieve those goals. SCPPA advocated for the extension of tax credits for commercial and residential building efficiency measures and incentives for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and urged their legislators to support inclusion of those measures. SCPPA also joined the American Public Power Association (APPA) and other utility organizations in opposing an effort in the House to repeal provisions in the EPAct 05 that directed five federal agencies to jointly designate corridors over federal lands for gas pipelines and electric transmission and distribution lines. Designation of these federal corridors is important to SCPPA and other consumer-owned electric utilities in California that are engaged in efforts to build new transmission facilities to increase electric reliability and facilitate development of geothermal resources located near the Salton Sea.
By working together, SCPPA members are providing and delivering reliable service, at competitive and stable rates. Whether it is proactive advocacy impacting energy legislation and regulation in California or at the Federal level, or collectively meeting our commitments for green power and renewable energy resources, SCPPA members are working together to successfully meet the challenges in California’s electric energy industry. By taking the necessary steps today, we can assure that we are in a position to serve and meet the energy demands of our customers in the future. We look forward to taking these steps together.
David H. Wright
President
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