City of Los Angeles has road map for 100% renewable energy

In California, Los Angeles will be able to achieve 98% clean energy in the next 10 years and 100% by 2035, according to their Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study (LA100) conducted with NREL. NREL developed a range of scenarios to evaluate pathways to 100% renewable energy on different timescales and expected levels of building and vehicle electrification for the city.

And it can do so without causing blackouts or disrupting the economy, the federal research lab found, undercutting two of the most common arguments used by opponents of climate action.

In addition to identifying pathways for Los Angeles, the study illuminates the potential for other municipalities, large and small, to embark on similar analysis and contribute toward national efforts to decarbonize the U.S. power sector by 2035.

Unprecedented in scale and the first of its kind, the Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study (LA100) provides insights into how the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), a vertically integrated utility that owns its generation, transmission, and distribution system, can meet clean energy targets established by Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles City Council in 2016 and 2017. LADWP, the largest municipal utility in the country, currently generates more than half of its electricity from renewable and zero-carbon resources.

LA100’s uniquely integrated modeling activities aimed to identify where, when, how much, and what types of infrastructure and operational changes would achieve reliable electricity at least cost, taking into consideration factors such as renewable energy policies and requirements, technological advancement, fuel prices, and electricity demand projections.

Download the Executive Summary here.