Skip to main content

L.A. Needs to Cut Solar Red Tape to Get Off Coal, Says Study

Support Provided By
ladwp-fit-3-27-15-thumb-630x472-90172

Los Angeles is going to have to make some changes if it's going to reach its vaunted goal of going coal-free by 2025, and those changes mainly involve making the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's bureaucracy work better.

That's according to a new study by the UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity. The study, "Los Angeles Solar: Now and into the Future," says that L.A. could easily install 150 megawatts of new solar power capacity each year until 2025. In order to do so, however, it's going to need to get a lot easier to get new solar projects approved by LADWP.

According to the study, which was commissioned by the Los Angeles Business Council Institute, only 6.5 megawatts' worth of solar panels have come online so far through LADWP's pioneering Feed-in Tariff program, though the program is intended to create 100 megawatts' worth of new solar generating capacity. With another 64 megawatts somewhere in the contracting and construction phase, almost 30 megawatts of potential solar that could be getting built under the program isn't even on the drawing board.

LADWP will have to speed that process up to wean itself off power imported from out-of-state coal plants, says the report, and part of the problem is lack of staffing.

To its credit, the utility did ask the L.A. Board of Water and Power Commissioners in 2013 to let it add 30 full-time staff positions to process applications for solar arrays in the city, but two years later just three full-time workers are handling that task.

That means a backlog of applications, as staff struggle to examine each proposed new solar project for potential technical problems.

The utility hasn't exactly been sitting on its hands: it's managed to cut wait times for solar project approval pretty dramatically. At the outset of the Feed-in Tariff program, new projects took an average of 425 days to win approval. LADWP's got that down to 182 days on average: about six months. The utility has also streamlined contracting and insurance procedures, which makes things a bit smoother.

But it's not enough, say the study's authors: LADWP still needs more people on the job. "LADWP needs to staff up in order to fulfill the promise of the Feed-in Tariff program and meet the high priority placed on the program by Mayor Garcetti, the City Council and the Board of DWP Commissioners," saus J.R. De Shazo of UCLA's Luskin Center. "Los Angeles has the right amount of sun, available rooftops, trained workers and financing options. Adequate staffing at LADWP is the missing piece of the puzzle, and it needs to be put in place if Los Angeles is going to go reach its solar potential."

The Los Angeles Business Council has just released a tool that may also help speed things along: its "Large Rooftops of Los Angeles Database" offers a list of Los Angeles rooftops, searchable by zip code, that offer at least 100 kilowatts' worth of solar potential.

"We know how important the list of potential properties was to identifying projects during the launch phase of the FiT," said Business Council President Mary Leslie. "The L.A. Business Council is confident that the online listing will spur additional solar investment by posting the most opportune sites in the City of Los Angeles."

Support Provided By
Read More
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
A Black woman with long, black brains wears a black Chicago Bulls windbreaker jacket with red and white stripes as she stands at the top of a short staircase in a housing complex and rests her left hand on the metal railing. She smiles slightly while looking directly at the camera.

Los Angeles County Is Testing AI's Ability To Prevent Homelessness

In order to prevent people from becoming homeless before it happens, Los Angeles County officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing. They would then step in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more so they don't become unhoused.