Exploring Renewable Energy Options

The Team

• Lon L. Peters, Northwest Economic Research LLC, Lon [at] nw-econ.com, (626) 365-1968
• Abhishek Rao, abhishek.rao247 [at] gmail.com, (480) 738-8974
• Kristy Morris, City of Hermosa Beach, kmorris [at] hermosabch.org, (310) 750-3603

The Project

Hermosa Beach is a small beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California with a population of nearly 20,000 people. In 2015, the city established an aggressive carbon reduction goal via a Municipal Carbon Neutral Plan: achieve carbon neutrality for municipal operations by the end of 2020. By successfully reaching this goal, the City can demonstrate the feasibility of a low-carbon future and encourage others to do the same. (Note: This goal was ultimately tempered during the project due to some opposition from the community.)

The Hermosa Beach-TEX project was launched in late 2016 to explore how much renewable energy Hermosa Beach could generate in pursuit of this goal. It consisted of three primary components:

1. Estimation of the technical potential of existing and future technologies
2. Review of transaction types and pathways (i.e., what it would take to roll out the identified technologies)
3. Estimation of costs by technology

The technologies explored and determined to be feasible included rooftop solar, small-scale vertical wind turbines, and micro-scale anaerobic digestion (i.e., converting organic waste to electricity). For each technology, the team evaluated the potential power generation (e.g., based on efficiency, available area, and renewable resources [wind or sunlight]). These were considered within city limits or in partnership with neighboring cities. The overnight capital cost ($/Watt) and the levelized cost of energy ($/MWh) were estimated to permit the City to objectively compare their respective costs.

The project team used publicly available information to develop estimates of the technical and economic feasibility of each technology – and their costs. These included research papers and reports, publicly available data from the City and national labs (e.g. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory), cloud-based GIS and energy modeling tools (e.g., Google Project Sunroof), past and present renewable energy bids and contracts for the city, information requests to scientists and utility companies, and quotes from technology developers. The team also reviewed state regulations and utility tariffs for applicability to the City’s ultimate implementation process. Estimates and methodologies presented were double-checked based on team experience.

To coordinate and achieve this ambitious scope, the project team met once or twice monthly by telephone to share updates and exchange information. Lon and Abhishek touched base weekly to discuss progress and next steps.

The Results

The outputs generated by this project included:

• A 51-page report detailing possible renewable energy technologies, potential and costs. The report compiles all analysis and conclusions generated over approximately 12 months of close coordination and includes back-up documentation to support its conclusions. The report concludes that rooftop solar PV currently has the maximum potential to provide renewable energy, while anaerobic digestion is the most uncertain. Recommendations presented to the City for near-term action include RFIs/RFQs to confirm technical and cost potentials, close coordination with the Southern California Edison utility (SCE), provision of information tools to residents, and others. The development of an integrated implementation plan in cooperation with SCE will be essential.
• A summary PowerPoint presentation of recommendations was developed for use in future City briefings.
• (Forthcoming) A presentation by Lon Peters and Kristy Morris to City Council to discuss project findings.

The report generated through this project provides a comprehensive review of all of the renewable energy opportunities for the City. As Hermosa Beach pursues its carbon reduction plan, the report’s recommendations can serve as a blueprint and guide for decision-making and next steps. This includes prioritizing projects, pursuing funding, drafting requests for proposals and evaluating costs for budgeting and the awarding of contracts.

Information about next steps for this analysis and ultimate impact remains pending until the information is presented to City Council. However, Kristy noted that the project will help the community identify opportunities to expand renewable energy resources in the city, resulting in lower electricity costs, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and greater resilience to grid disruptions.

The high-level approach applied in this project can be extended relatively easily to neighboring beach communities west of Los Angeles, where conditions are similar (e.g., solar insolation, wind patterns, land use constraints, air permitting requirements, state standards for disposal of organic waste). The methodology and considerations are especially relevant when such communities share goals similar to Hermosa Beach. Although the share of annual consumption that can be supplied with local renewables will vary from city to city, local renewables can probably be combined with Community Choice Aggregation and other programs to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets over time.

Reflections

Elements that contributed to the success of this project stemmed largely from ready provision of data and resources by city staff, and the experience of the project team. While occasionally difficult to obtain, the availability of needed data was key. Early definition of the project scope was critical, and efficiency was maximized by distributing key tasks and questions according to availability and expertise. Regular, frequent calls between team members were helpful for keeping the project on track and getting feedback from project teams.

This project was unique in that the scientific partner (Lon Peters) was joined by an early-career scientist, Abhishek Rao, at the start of the project via a pilot of a TEX community science training initiative. Abhishek was invited to join the project as a Fellow to learn about community science hands-on, and engage with an established scientist outside of his academic and professional network. Abhishek was able to contribute to the project substantively and uniquely: while Lon is an energy economist, Abhishek is an energy engineer. Together they were able to leverage their diverse backgrounds to approach the challenge from multiple angles.

Defining meeting expectations is very important. Looking back on their collaboration, the team recognized that although they had regular contact, these interactions could have been better defined and would have benefited from being even more frequent. When meetings were less regular, questions and action items languished. Improving these interactions requires that collaborators be real and communicative in setting commitments and conveying expectations. This includes communicating and responding with flexibility to significant personal changes outside of the project such as relocations. Finally, Abhishek noted that time management is key – especially when working in a volunteer context and having to manage other professional and personal commitments. Kristy extended this observation to communicating about your time: it’s important to be realistic when committing to action items and setting timelines.

Recommendations for Other Projects

Ensure a well-defined initial project scope, but don’t shy away from adjusting it as necessary. Not all approaches to a problem work out well. In this case, the team realized a few technologies were not feasible, and hence were not worth the time pursuing to investigate. It is important to identify these approaches that don’t work and refine your focus on the ones that do.

This project was launched in partnership with the International City/County Management Association.

Community Lead

Dr. Kristy Morris is a consensus building, creative problem solver who employs her strong leadership skill to effect environmental change. Kristy manages and implements a wide range of programs and plans for the City of Hermosa Beach, including the Municipal Carbon Neutral Plan that sets an aggressive goal for the City’s facilities and operations to be carbon neutral by 2020. To achieve this, Kristy is exploring a range of energy efficiency, green technology and carbon reduction measures. In addition, Kristy manages the City’s solid waste and recycling programs, stormwater pollution prevention programs and water conservation programs. Kristy spends most of her leisure time in the ocean and advocates passionately about pollution prevention. Kristy earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia, investigating rapid methods to organic pollutants in wastewater. She also earned a Bachelor of Science with first class honors, from Griffith University.

Scientific Liaison

Dr. Lon Peters is the President of Northwest Economic Research, LLC, located in Pasadena, California. Lon has been actively involved in the electric utility industry for over thirty years, and recently retired from the position of Integrated Resources Planning Administrator at Glendale Water and Power in Glendale, California. His past and current work includes compliance with California’s renewable portfolio standards, making the transition away from carbon-intensive energy supplies, long-term planning and short-term energy transactions, litigation support, and risk management. Lon has a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.

TEX Community Science Fellow

Abhishek Rao is on a mission to help power the Earth with renewables. He is always in search of challenges in the field where he can put his creative and analytical skills to good use, and actively seeks out opportunities to advocate for clean energy. He has previously worked on the U.S. DOE SunShot Initiative, and has published research in scientific journals, international conferences, and in an encyclopedia for young adults on solar energy. He currently designs rooftop solar systems for Sunrun, Inc. in California and has helped over 200 American homes derive their energy from the sun. Abhishek holds a Master’s in solar energy engineering, business and policy from Arizona State University. When he is not thinking about his mission, Abhishek likes to read, write, and attend indie folk concerts.