The city of Manhattan Beach will expand its electric vehicle charging infrastructure and explore making renewable energy more available to its residents, the city council voted last month.
Saying that it wanted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support increased use of electric vehicles, the council approved two new charging stations to the four the city already has in the Civic Center parking garage and the two in the lot at Rosecrans and Highland Avenues. One of the new stations will probably go in the Metlox parking garage, and one in the city lot just southwest of the Metlox Plaza.
The city will also install technology at all of its stations to track usage. Although the proposal by city staff said that so far, its stations “seem to be very well used,” the staff report noted that the city currently has no way to measure how frequently or long the stations are used. The new technology would also allow users to find out if a space was available ahead of time and to make reservations. The total cost of the new stations and monitoring equipment is $45,000, half of which can be reimbursed through a grant with the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
At the same meeting on Oct. 21, the council also unanimously decided to participate in a feasibility study for a program that would provide renewable energy to residents. A group of proponents, including the mayor pro tem of Hermosa Beach, which has already signed up for the study, encouraged the city to participate.
“This city has been one of the leaders on the environment,” said Hermosa Beach Mayor Pro Tem Nanette Barragan. “We often in Hermosa Beach look to you, to see what you’ve done. For once, we actually got to do the resolution first. I urge you to adopt this resolution. We’ll be the first two cities. We can set an example here in the South Bay.”
Environmental Programs Manager Sona Coffee said that not only could the program provide renewable energy, but it could also cost less than traditional energy. A South Bay program would be based on one already used by Marin and Sonoma Counties. She described the program, which is called Community Choice Aggregation, as a “partnership between a city and the utility.”
Craig Cadwallader, chair of the South Bay chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, said that he had become convinced it was the way to go.
“As a resident, I think the Community Choice Aggregation program is brilliant,” he said. “It’s a win-win-win strategy. We can reduce costs, we can reduce greenhouse gas effects. It just makes sense all the way across the board.”
Another proponent, Joe Galliani, organizer of the South Bay 350 Climate Action Group, said that the $1 million cost of the regional study could be reimbursed through the program, so it would ultimately not cost the city anything. When asked by Mayor Wayne Powell what would happen to houses with solar energy, he said that those homeowners would get a bigger credit. The city would have the option to pay them as energy providers.
Councilmember Amy Howorth, who said she had first heard about the program in March while she was mayor, remarked that she was amazed at how quickly things had progressed.
“There’s so much ‘energy’ surrounding it,” she said. “We’re going to lead the way again.”
