Dive Brief:
- California Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) Department of General Services signed a three-year contract with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) to transition 23 state office buildings, including the Capitol, to 100% renewables-generated electricity.
- It is one of the biggest single commitments to renewable electricity in the U.S., but will impose only a $6 per MWh, or 5%, extra expense on California taxpayers. The state’s premium is 1% below SMUD’s residential premium because the state is buying bulk. Increased electricity costs will be paid by the building-occupying departments.
- The commitment follows the Brown administration’s longstanding push for climate action. Most recently, the state legislature enacted a Brown-supported 50% renewables by 2030 mandate for California’s regulated utilities.
Dive Insight:
SMUD serves some 11 million square feet of state office space in Sacramento. Another 10 state office buildings will be shifted to 100% renewables at a future date. General Services will also begin moving the 5.3 million square feet of state facilities served by other utilities in other parts of the state toward renewables.
A 2004 Schwarzenegger administration executive order required more efficiency in existing state buildings and set more environmentally-friendly standards for new state buildings. A 2014 Brown administration executive order required a 20% cut in all state departments’ water use.
SB 350, the 50% renewables mandate which also calls for a doubling of building efficiency, originated from a Brown administration executive order. The bill initially also called on the state to cut petroleum use by 50% by 2030 but oil and auto industry opposition forced lawmakers to drop that provision in order to shepherd the others to passage.
California's investor-owned utilities are well on their way to meeting the state's current 33% renewables by 2020 mandate and told Utility Dive they can meet a 50% renewables goal by 2030.
