Renewable energy: LA to fully electrify, add solar power to 9 city buildings

The Los Angeles City Council allocated about $28 million Friday to fully electrify nine city facilities and equip them with solar generation and battery storage capability as part of an effort to decarbonize public buildings in LA.

The buildings are the Las Palmas Senior Citizen Center, the Silver Lake Branch Library, the Balboa Sports Complex, the Benjamin Franklin Branch Library, the Cypress Park Branch Library, the Old Fire Station No. 39, the Green Meadows Recreation Center, the Valley Plaza Recreation Center and the Los Angeles Zoo solar photovoltaic system.

The city’s funding will be supplemented by $80 million from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

“Today’s vote makes clear that we’re not just talking about the decarbonization of our buildings but backing these words with actual investments,” said Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, who co-introduced the motion. “Los Angeles must lead by example as we tackle one of our greatest sources of carbon emissions and work collectively to achieve our LA100 renewable energy goals.”

Los Angeles committed last year to transitioning the city to 100% renewable energy by 2035. O’Farrell’s office called the city’s efforts to decarbonize public buildings a major milestone toward powering the city by 100% renewable energy by 2035.

The motion was co-introduced with Councilman Paul Krekorian.

“These investments will save the city departments money, make our community facilities more resilient to extreme weather, clean our air and help us reach our LA100 goals of 100% clean energy by 2035. It is a win-win-win-win and is just the beginning,” Krekorian said.