GRID Alternatives GLA is proud to announce the fourth event in our Los Angeles Energy and Equity Policy Series (LEEPS), "Our Shared Solar Future: Expanding Access through Community Solar."

Community solar has emerged across the country as a powerful policy strategy to encourage clean energy equity. The event will introduce attendees to the concept of community solar and its potential to expand solar access to our most vulnerable communities, including those households who face the greatest adoption barriers such as renters. Our panel of experts and advocates will review successful community solar case studies from around the country, with specific focus on programs that deliver benefits to low-income customers. Panelists will then turn focus to California and discuss our state’s recent community solar policy developments, as well as additional steps that must be taken to ensure significant utility bill savings for the households that need it most.

We're honored to announce our lunch keynote: Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves from the California Public Utilities Commissioner.

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Agenda

Coffee and Registration (9:30am)

Light breakfast will be served.

Welcoming Comments (10:00am)

Jeannine Pearce, Councilwoman, City of Long Beach

PANEL 1 (10:20am) – Community Solar Successes from around the Country

Throughout the country, community solar has emerged as a viable policy option for the expansion of solar access and energy equity. This panel will review the community solar successes from around the country, particularly as they pertain to low-income communities, and discuss what lessons can be learned as community solar begins to take root in California.

• Marta Tomic, Program Director, Vote Solar

• Tom Figel, Director of Community Solar, GRID Alternatives

• Juan Parra, Community Solar Program Manager, Solar One

• Jaimes Valdez, Policy Manager, Spark Northwest

• Jake Levine, Associate and Policy Adviser, Covington & Burling, LLP

PANEL 2 (11:40am) – California’s Community Solar Policy Landscape: Now and Into the Future

In 2018, community solar policy developments occurred on multiple fronts throughout California. The California Public Utilities Commission passed the “Green Tariff Community Solar” program to establish a new statewide community solar tariff, the California Department of Community Services and Development released $5 million in grant funding for the implementation of low-income community solar pilot projects, and investor-owned utilities such as Southern California Edison (SCE) submitted for approval a suite of shared solar programs including SCE’s Community Renewables Program. This panel will review the year’s policy developments and look forward to a future community solar policy landscape that ensures solar access to the most vulnerable Californians.

• Ted Bardacke, Executive Director, Clean Power Alliance

• Anthony Hernandez, Principal Manager, Energy Procurement and Management, Southern California Edison

• Crystal Huang, CEO, People Power Solar Cooperative

• Brandon Smithwood, Policy Director, Coalition for Community Solar Access

• Elise Hunter, Policy & Regulatory Affairs Director, GRID Alternatives

LUNCH AND KEYNOTE DISCUSSION (1:00pm)

Martha Guzman Aceves, Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission

#LEEPS #sharedsolar #solar #communitysolar #renewableenergy #GRIDAlternatives #solarforall #energyjustice

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About GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles

GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles is an affiliate of GRID Alternatives, the nation’s largest nonprofit solar installer, bringing clean energy technology and job training to underserved communities. To date, GRID GLA has installed 1,862 solar electric systems for low-income households, creating $44 million in lifetime utility savings, preventing 83,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions and training 4,000 people along the way. For more information, visit www.gridalternatives.org/gla

*If you have any questions or qualify for a reduced ticket price (students, Veterans), please contact Briget Arndell at barndell@gridalternatives.org.

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This event is made possible by The 11th Hour Project, a program of the Schmidt Family Foundation.

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