How Different the California Grid Will Look by 2025

Quickly growing community choice aggregations (CCA) are expected to play a significant role in drawing 85 percent of customers away from California’s investor-owned utilities by 2025, according to a new report.

The community aggregation report was one of three on grid disruption released by Next 10, an organization with a goal of improving California’s future. The other two reports focused on electric vehicles (EV) and distributed energy resources (DER). All three studies attempt to uncover ways to improve the grid and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said Noel Perry, founder of Next 10.

Community choice aggregations are energy buying coops formed by cities or counties.

“The IOUs forecasted that by 2025, 85 percent will leave their systems,” said Kelly Trumball, a co-author of the community aggregation report, “The Growth of Community Choice Aggregation: Impacts to California’s Grid,” and staff researcher and assistant project manager with UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation. “We expect the vast majority to go to CCAs, but also to direct access, energy efficiency and behind the meter folks generating and consuming themselves.”

Another report, “The Growth of Distributed Energy: Implications for California,” found the state to be home to 90 percent of the small-scale energy storage in the US and half of all US large-scale storage.

In addition, as of 2017, 36 microgrids operated in California, with an additional 80 under construction or planned. Together, these microgrids will... continue reading on Microgrid Knowledge.