At the April 10 Community Advisory Committee meeting, San Diego Community Power’s power services team reviewed strategic goals, local procurement plans and safety concerns raised by committee members and the public.

Chief Commercial Officer Byron Vaugh — who announced he will leave the agency next month — said the organization’s goals include achieving 100% renewable supply by 2035, expanding local infill resources (a target that includes a gigawatt of local resources and 300 MW of distributed energy resources), and managing costs and reliability risks. Vaugh described work to replace an earlier feed‑in tariff with targeted solicitations, noting that market volatility after the COVID‑era and supply‑chain dislocations made the initial tariff less viable; staff said they are redesigning the tariff with updated market data to attract offers and meanwhile have used targeted RFPs and contract awards for local solar and storage projects.

On a state program that offers above‑market discounts for specified customers (identified in the briefing as a DAC GT program), Vaugh said Community Power has executed at least one contract (identified in the meeting as with Lumina LLC) and has others in progress. He said staff will present more detailed briefings about the feed‑in tariff redesign and the DAC GT implementation at a future meeting.

Several members raised safety concerns about battery storage after high‑profile fires elsewhere. Vaugh and other staff said the industry has been moving to newer technologies and site designs with stronger safety protections; one committee member cited the use of lithium‑iron‑phosphate (LFP) chemistries as an example of more stable battery options. Staff said they will continue to require appropriate permitting and to seek the safest available technology in procurements while coordinating with local permitting and public‑safety authorities.

Why it matters: local procurement and interconnection choices affect the pace of local renewable deployment as well as community safety concerns. Staff said they will bring a deeper presentation on lessons learned from the feed‑in tariff and details about DAC GT contracts in coming meetings.