Client: AVA Energy (formerly East Bay Community Energy)

Project: 2018 Local Business Development Plan

Blue Strike led a team of consultants to prepare a first of its kind business plan to provide local development in EBCE territory. The Local Development Business Plan (LDBP) creates a comprehensive framework for accelerating local distributed energy resource deployment while maximizing local benefit in Alameda County through the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) model. The East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) Local Development Business Plan is intended to support the achievement of a bold vision for implementing a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program in Alameda County, with a strong focus on developing local clean energy assets and maximizing local environmental, economic, and social benefits. It seeks to do this by providing a comprehensive framework for rapid deployment of beneficial clean energy programs and resources throughout the EBCE service territory.

The LDBP identifies short-term, no regrets opportunities as well as some of the tradeoffs between different local development goals. It also maps out a path to pursue and accelerate achievement of those goals (including economic and workforce benefits), while maintaining enough flexibility to adapt to changes in state policy and regulation. In addition, it identifies innovative win-win programs to create good jobs, provide programs that enhance economic equity, stimulate economic development, and enhance the integration of local distributed energy resources (DER) in ways that enhance EBCE’s long-term stability and reliability as an organization that the Alameda County community will depend on for years to come.

Our team was the senior project manager and stakeholder engagement coordinator for the project, and we were responsible for work products including development of the final plan. As the Climate Solutions Manager for Blue Strike Environmental (EcoShift Consulting’s parent company), Chris Sentieri led a team of five consulting firms in the development of a first-of-its-kind plan facilitating local clean energy development by one of California’s largest Community Choice Aggregation programs (East Bay Community Energy, serving Alameda County’s retail electricity customers). Mr. Sentieri was the Senior Project Manager, Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator, Senior Consultant, and Graphic Designer for the project. Ms. Cushman led the planning and execution of key LDBP events (including dozens of Focus Groups, Stakeholder Meetings, Webinars, Presentations to the EBCE Board and Community Advisory Committee, and culminating in the LDBP Symposium event.