Clean Power Alliance (CPA) to become Debt Free, will Provide Incentives for EV Chargers

In 2017, Los Angeles County loaned the Clean Power Alliance (CPA) $10M to launch its very first operations. Today, CPA serves more than 1 million customers across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, including over 7,500 residences and 1,500 businesses in Agoura Hills.  CPA provides cleaner power at competitive rates, and a suite of customer programs. This month, CPA will be repaying that $10M loan and be debt-free. It’s an impressive return on investment on many levels and will be an asset to our communities for years to come.

This week CPA entered into contracts for two new, long-term solar and storage projects—a 300 MW solar project with 180 MW of storage in Tulare County and a 65 MW solar project with 25 MW of storage in Kern County. Together, the projects will cover approximately 8.5% of CPA’s overall demand. The 15-year contracts will help CPA meet its customers’ large renewable energy demand while lowering costs and creating over 1,000 new construction jobs. These two projects join the ten long-term renewable energy contracts that CPA’s Board has approved to date. Both projects are expected to be up and running by the end of 2023. California has set a 100% renewable energy goal by 2045.

In other news, through the efforts of CPA, millions of dollars in incentives for publicly-available EV chargers will be coming in 2021 through the CalEVIP program, with particular set-asides for disadvantaged communities. This program will help clean our air and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Clean Power Alliance  is the largest of several Community Choice Aggregates in California and gives residents a cleaner, greener and cheaper choice of where their electricity comes from and the ability to move away from big investor-owned utilities to more sustainable options.  CPA is the locally-run electricity provider for Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. 

A "Summer of Kittens"

Five Mountain Lion Dens Found in a Three-Month Period

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.— It’s been one mountain lion kitten den after another this summer for National Park Service biologists in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills. In total, 13 kittens were born to five mountain lion mothers between May and August 2020. For photos and video, click HERE

This is the first time this many mountain lion dens have been found within such a short period of time during the 18-year study, in which a total of 21 litters of kittens have been marked at the den site by researchers. Previously, the highest number of dens found in one year was four (across 10 months in 2015). Three additional litters have been found when the kittens were older (at least six months old) and had already left the den site. 

“This level of reproduction is a great thing to see, especially since half of our mountains burned almost two years ago during the Woolsey Fire,” said Jeff Sikich, a wildlife biologist who has been studying the mountain lion population at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. “It will be interesting to see how these kittens use the landscape in the coming years and navigate the many challenges, both natural and human-caused, they will face as they grow older and disperse.”

Each visit to a den occurs while the mother is away hunting for food, feeding, or just resting. A biologist will track her movements via telemetry, while colleagues approach the den area. Once the den is found, the researchers will conduct the workup on the kittens a short distance away from the den. This typically takes less than an hour.

The biologists perform a general health check, determine the sex of each kitten, take various body measurements, including weight, obtain biological samples, and place one uniquely numbered and colored ear tag in each of the kittens. This tag helps to identify them in the future with remote cameras and when recaptured for the placement of a radio-collar. The kittens are all returned to the den before their mother comes back.