CPA’s Community Advisory Committee Strengthening Renewable Energy Future for SoCal Communities

Since launching in 2019, the Clean Power Alliance (CPA) Community Advisory Committee (CAC) has served as an essential resource for local community engagement efforts and policy initiatives. The CAC, made up of CPA customers who are local leaders in the areas of renewable energy, public health and community organizing, advise our Board of Directors on key programs and outreach efforts that benefit families and businesses in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

The 15-member CAC represents seven sub-regions of our service area. Including East Ventura/West L.A. County, West/Unincorporated Ventura County, the Gateway Cities, the San Gabriel Valley, the South Bay, the Westside and Unincorporated Los Angeles County.

Members reflect a diverse cross-section of professional backgrounds and are committed to using their expertise on clean energy issues to improve the lives of local customers while strengthening the connection between CPA and the Southern California region.

CPA Launches Power Ready Program to Build Power Resiliency Across Southern California

The need for backup power systems is growing as power outages become more common with increased wildfires, public safety power shutoffs, and increased summer grid emergencies due to high heat. CPA's Power Ready program is soliciting competitive proposals to enhance energy resiliency in Los Angeles and Ventura counties through the installation of 12 power backup systems in public facilities owned by CPA’s partner communities. The goal is to bring resiliency to critical community-use buildings through the installation of solar-plus-storage systems, ensuring there is a backup source of energy when there is a power outage.

Learn more about this opportunity here

Learn More About CPA Power Response: Smart Home

CPA’s Power Response Program is a Demand Response program where participants receive financial incentives for managing their electricity use. Demand Response programs encourage our customers to reduce energy usage when electricity demand is anticipated to be very high and the grid may come under stress. Under these conditions, CPA will call a Demand Response event in which participants in the Power Response Program are paid to reduce their electricity usage.

Learn more about Power Response Smart Home here

LA Times: Want to Solve Climate Change? This California Farm Kingdom Holds a Key

When CPA evaluates which renewable energy projects to contract with, we prioritize projects that practice good land stewardship and are located within California. This recent article by Los Angeles Times Energy and Climate Change reporter Sammy Roth illustrates some of the on-the-ground challenges and trade-offs that exist when trying to implement those priorities.

"The barren dirt is littered with petrified carrots, blackened and barely recognizable after four years baking in the Imperial Valley’s legendary heat. The August sun is starting to set, but it’s still 113 degrees in California’s hottest, driest county. By year’s end, a field of solar panels should cover this land, sending clean electricity to San Diego. A giant battery will help the coastal city keep the lights on after dark. None of the infrastructure will destroy pristine wildlife habitat. If that sounds like an outcome to which nobody could object — well, welcome to the Imperial Valley."

Read the full story here

Meet the Staff - Cody Walding

Tell us about your background.

I have lived in the Houston area most of my life, and it's where I graduated with an MBA in December of 2019 before I began working to launch my career in the energy industry. I began with my first position at Adapt2 Solutions where I supported energy trading and settlements.

While in that role, I became fascinated with energy settlements and decided that I wanted to work on the business side versus the software side of the industry. I came across a story highlighting CPA's renewable energy focus online, applied with the hiring team, and the rest is history!

What responsibilities do you have here at Clean Power Alliance?

Settlements in the energy industry require a considerable number of calculations on a day-to-day basis to validate the invoices that we receive from energy suppliers. At CPA, we have two main settlement categories. The first involves the CAISO (California Independent System Operator Corporation), where I need to validate the invoices using a variety of inputs, mainly electricity prices and electricity meter data. The second category is our bilateral wholesale energy invoices with our long-term suppliers, which are settled through buying or selling energy at a set contract price. This includes validating and calculating 10-plus long term PPA invoices each month from technologies such as wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and battery energy storage. It’s a role I tremendously enjoy and important to the organization to make sure we are only being charged for electricity that our customers eventually consume.

What are you most proud of in working here at CPA?

The thing that I am most proud of is working for a company that has such a large impact on the major shift to renewables in California and being able to work with such a broad range of different emerging renewable technologies.

Renewable Energy News Roundup

100% Renewable Energy is Now the Default for members of One California CCA (Solar Power World)
California’s Latest Climate Solution Could Save Water While Creating Renewable Energy (KTLA)
Round-the-Clock Clean Power Doesn’t Cost a Fortune, Study Shows (Bloomberg)

Come Work with Us!

Join our diverse, innovative, and dynamic team running the fourth largest electricity provider in California, while leading the way to a clean energy future!

We’re currently hiring for the following positions. To apply click here

Analyst, Rates & Strategy
Power Originator
Project Manager, Origination & Contract Management

Regulatory Analyst I
Senior Middle Office Risk Analyst
Vice President, Power Supply