Energy Solutions is proud to announce that TECH Clean California has received the Groundbreaking Program Design and Implementation Award at the AESP (Association of Energy Services Professionals) Annual conference in New Orleans. This award is in recognition of TECH’s innovative and comprehensive approach to market transformation in clean heating. TECH Clean California, launched in June 2021, is a statewide initiative to drive market adoption of heat pump space and water heating technologies for existing homes across California to help advance the state’s goal to install six million heat pumps by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. The program was created as part of California Senate Bill 1477 and is funded by revenues collected through California’s Cap-and-Trade program.

Through a combination of market incentives, supply chain engagement, workforce development, consumer education, regional pilots, and a Quick Start Grant program, TECH is accelerating the installation of heat pump space and water heating technologies in California homes. The initiative includes strategies to make these technologies accessible to more Californians, with a strong focus on low-income residents who pay more of their income on energy costs, and on disadvantaged communities disproportionately affected by air pollution and other environmental hazards. TECH serves as a national model for accelerating the adoption of heat pump technologies for space and water heating.

More about the initiative:

TECH Clean California focuses are three main areas of market transformation: motivating and preparing the supply chain with incentives, workforce training, and a consumer education; demonstrating scalable solutions to market barriers through regional pilots and quick start grants; and creating a public database with real-life data on heat pump sales, energy usage, GHG reductions, and customer experience surveys to inform an equitable, transformative, long-term building decarbonization policy framework.

Within the first six months of offering incentives, TECH enrolled and trained nearly 1,000 contractors across the state, achieved 3,500 annual metric tons of CO2 equivalent savings (vs. a goal of 2,307 tons), paid $31.7 million in incentives, and installed or reserved over 20,000 heat pump HVAC and HPWH units. Because of the success of the initiative to date, TECH has received an additional $50 million in funding through the state budget to continue supporting this market transformation effort.

In 2022, TECH also awarded 11 Quick Start Grants to test innovative approaches to overcoming market barriers and jump start heat pump installations, particularly focused in low-income and hard-to reach- communities and launched six regional pilots to test solutions to permitting, financing, and multifamily hurdles, as well as approaches to HPWH load-shifting adoption and innovative customer targeting practices.

TECH also developed an Incentive Clearinghouse as a central place to layer incentives from partner utility programs, making it easier for market actors and consumers to understand and access available support. This incentive layering strategy is especially important considering that the Inflation Reduction Act will soon launch new programs such as the High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebates Program (HEEHRP) and the Whole-Home Energy Efficiency Program (HOMES) throughout the United States. TECH Clean California’s data and lessons learned can provide valuable insights to guide state energy offices and implementers on coordinating and layering existing local energy efficiency programs and supporting heat pump market transformation.

Led by Energy Solutions, TECH Clean California is implemented by a team of partners consisting of Ardenna Energy, Association for Energy Affordability (AEA), Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC), Electrify My Home, Energy Outlet, Frontier Energy, National Comfort Institute, The Ortiz Group, Tre’Laine, and VEIC. TECH Clean California is funded by California ratepayers and taxpayers and administered by Southern California Edison Company under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission.

The Groundbreaking Program Design and Implementation Award is given annually by AESP to recognize excellence in residential program design and implementation.