A 1 Mega-Watt Community Solar Project 'Flips The Switch' In Oakland

OAKLAND, CA — On Friday afternoon in the back of a nondescript office park in East Oakland, a gathering of logistics and energy specialists, along with state and local officials, heralded a victory for community solar, years in the making.

A brand-new community solar farm, generating just under one megawatt of power, came online on top of an East Oakland logistics hub, owned by the world's largest logistics real estate company, Prologis.

In partnership with Ava Community Energy, a not-for-profit energy generation provider based in Alameda County, the event commemorated the first of five community solar projects designed to help disadvantaged communities.

"This project and program is serving our low-income, historically marginalized community with lower-cost renewable energy," said Howard Chang, CEO of Ava Community Energy. "We hope that we can continue to accelerate our customers' ability to electrify and do so affordably."

To support and encourage the development of projects like this, California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 327 in 2013, directing the California's Public Utility Commission to roll out a Disadvantaged Communities Green Tariff program, or DAC-GT, which will provide funds to develop utility-scale clean energy, with a 20% discount for income qualified applicants.

Chang noted that the four other projects-- another in Oakland, one in San Leandro and two in Tracy-- will provide power to over 3,000 customers and produce just over seven mega-watts of energy, addressing affordability in the process.

Lawmakers were eager to celebrate.

State Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Oakland, highlighted the importance of these partnerships, which allow Oaklanders and low-income communities across the state to "take charge" of how they get their power, furthering access to green energy.

State Sen. Jesse Arreguin, D-Oakland, who represents the East Bay from Rodeo to East Oakland, added that community-based energy was key to solving increasing energy costs for Californians, especially in historically underinvested areas.

"That's money that's being kept in the wallets of working families, all while building the infrastructure that California needs to achieve its climate goals and its energy independence," said Arreguin. "Cleaner energy, lower utility bills, that's really a win-win."

Oakland's Chief Resilience Officer Daniel Hamilton highlighted the importance of the green energy transition on health outcomes, noting that East Oakland ranks near the top of the state in pollution exposure and the same in asthma rates.

"If we can scale programs like this, we can truly put a dent in the climate crisis in ways that lift our communities," Hamilton said.

As he highlighted Ava's commitment to providing fully renewable power to its customers by 2030, San Leandro Mayor Juan Gonzalez said that he believed these types of public-private partnerships would be the engine that achieves that goal and delivers on climate and economic commitments.

While Gonzalez conceded there was work to be done to increase the affordability of solar power for the average person, he stressed that he and other lawmakers are committed to working on the city and state level to drive costs down.

"Today I stand grateful, grateful that we are making that transition into turning local rooftops into [energy] generators," Gonzalez said. "We are moving forward to deliver cleaner power, to deliver that equitably to our communities of greatest needs... this is just the beginning."

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