April 10, 2024

Los Angeles, CA – Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted Board Chair Lindsey P. Horvath’s motion to accelerate renewable energy development throughout Los Angeles County as a critical step to achieving carbon neutrality by 2045.

“Los Angeles County has the opportunity to generate clean electricity locally, creating jobs, improving air quality, and increasing community resiliency,” said Board Chair Lindsey P. Horvath. “Updating our Renewable Energy Ordinance is critical to achieving our climate goals through utility-scale wind and solar projects while also bringing much-needed benefits to communities hit hardest by our ever-changing climate.”

While the County has made great strides in lowering greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) through the move to 100% renewable electricity through the Clean Power Alliance (CPA) and vehicle electrification, local investment in utility-scale renewable energy projects such as wind and solar, is needed to meet the County’s 2030 GHG targets.

Just five years after its creation, CPA has earned the recognition of number one green energy provider in America by the US Department of Energy. Two-thirds of its more than one million customer accounts receive 100% renewable electricity. Yet, there’s untapped potential as available supply of clean power has not kept up with demand.

The motion directs updates to the Renewable Energy Ordinance led by the Department of Regional Planning to accelerate the development of utility-scale renewable energy facilities through the following:

• Identify certain areas in the County as renewable energy development zones. These zones and corridors would allow utility-scale renewable energy facilities across districts.
• Establish a size threshold to determine whether a ministerial or discretionary permit is required for these projects with clear development standards for each.
• Develop an approach to ensuring community benefits for renewable energy projects that promote community resiliency in impacted areas. This can include the required development of community-scale renewable energy and storage systems, micro-grids serving individual or multiple sites, or payments into a community benefit fund that would subsidize solar and storage projects in vulnerable communities.
• Evaluate the ban on utility-scale wind energy and make a recommendation based on market and environmental factors on whether it should be allowed on a discretionary basis in certain zones.

The Department of Regional Planning will conduct broad community and stakeholder outreach before presenting an amended ordinance to the Board of Supervisors.

For more information, read the motion here.

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