Peninsula Clean Energy said it has begun providing 100 percent carbon-free electricity to all of its nearly 300,000 customers, which is ahead of California’s 2045 zero-emission power generation mandate and a step in helping the agency achieve its ultimate goal of providing all customers 100 percent renewable power on a 24/7 basis.
Since large hydropower is emission-free but not counted as renewable in California, the agency said all customers are receiving at least 50 percent renewable power generated by solar, wind, biomass and small hydropower projects.
The remainder of the emission-free power will be provided from large hydropower. None of that generation in 2021 will stem from nuclear power. The agency’s 2020 power mix was 95 percent carbon-free.
Peninsula Clean Energy customers will continue to receive this clean power at rates lower than those charged by PG&E, it said.
ECO-100 customers will continue to receive all electricity from wind and solar power.
“Congratulations to Peninsula Clean Energy for moving to carbon-free electricity,” said State Senator Josh Becker (D-Peninsula), vice chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies. “California needs to speed its transition to 100 percent clean energy. That’s why I introduced legislation calling for a 24/7 Clean Energy Standard to provide California with a stronger, swifter pathway to success. Peninsula Clean Energy’s leadership is critical for the community it serves and our area, and provides me with a good case study I can take to Sacramento.”
“Community-based providers are proving that we all can, and must, provide affordable and reliable emission-free power to our customers before it is too late to successfully mitigate climate change,” Peninsula Clean Energy CEO Jan Pepper said. “We hope our experience can serve as a model for other power providers to follow here in California and beyond.”
