REGION — The Clean Energy Alliance unveiled a new program to expand solar power and battery storage capabilities for businesses and other large-scale facilities across the seven North County cities it serves.
Formed in 2019, the CEA offers an electricity alternative to utility companies as a community choice aggregator in several cities in North County San Diego. The group began selling electricity to Carlsbad, Del Mar, and Solana Beach in 2021 and has since expanded its service area to include Escondido, San Marcos, Vista, and Oceanside.
CEA’s Solar Plus Business program partners with Lumina — a San Diego-based firm that develops solar systems and energy storage in urban areas — under which qualifying commercial, industrial, municipal and school properties would host solar and battery storage systems, or battery storage systems alone, according to a news release.
The systems would be installed, financed, owned, and maintained by Luminia, with no upfront cost to the property owner; tenant-occupied properties are also eligible. CEA then purchases the power and delivers it to participating customers. The program also offers the property owner an annual lease payment for hosting the systems, according to the release.
Greg Wade, chief executive officer for CEA, said the program taps into an underused resource for clean energy: commercial properties.
“This program is a win-win for the region: businesses save money and earn new lease income, residents gain a more resilient grid and we make meaningful progress toward our community’s clean energy and climate goals,” Wade said in the release.
The program is expected to deploy up to 160 megawatts of solar and 640 megawatt-hours of battery storage, according to the release. That would be enough battery storage to power a year of energy needs for almost 60 average American households, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
CEA has a long-term goal of 100% clean energy by 2035.
David Field, chief executive officer and co-founder of Luminia, said the program will help businesses lower operating expenses while also strengthening local energy resilience.
Those interested in learning more about the program can visit: TheCleanEnergyAlliance.org/SolarPlusBusiness or Luminia.io/Solar-Plus-Business.
