By Media Office Staff
Clean energy leaders from across the state joined more than 750 attendees for the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) 10th annual Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) Symposium.
EPIC is California’s premier clean energy research and development program. The program is funded by ratepayers of California’s three largest investor-owned electric utilities and provides substantial benefits to them by driving clean energy innovation and entrepreneurship and improving the resiliency of the electricity system as climate impacts grow.
The Oct. 28 event was held at the California Natural Resources Building in Sacramento. The symposium was hosted by the CEC, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric Company in partnership with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).
“With all due respect to all the great programs around the world, this is the best clean energy research and development program in the world,” said CEC Chair David Hochschild. “I have visited Germany, Australia, Japan, and many other countries. They are all doing good stuff, but what is happening here in California, with this level of innovation, sophistication and imagination, is leading the world.”
According to an EPIC report, since its inception, more than $750 million has been awarded for building decarbonization projects, grid decarbonization and decentralization, industrial and agricultural innovation, and low-carbon transportation projects
The program has also awarded more than $250 million to support clean energy technologies as they go from laboratory to market, and $195 million to strengthen climate resilience and help advance an equitable clean energy transition.
“So, this is really seed planting for the future,” said Hochschild. “I think we should all take that as a point of great pride because the things that get created here with EPIC funding can go on and do great things”
“One of the really positive evolutions of the EPIC program over time has been the increasing focus on equity and how we deliver research that not only benefits the state but also benefits communities that have less access to the technologies; less access to electric vehicle chargers; and less access to energy, efficiency and electrification,” said CPUC Commissioner Karen Douglas. “One of the key goals is to lift up the communities that have been hardest hit by pollution, and we're absolutely committed to that.”
About 60 percent of the $493 million in EPIC demonstration funds went to projects located in and benefitting low-income or disadvantaged communities. About $21 million has been invested in projects on tribal lands, some of which are located in rural or remote areas and are subject to planned power outages, natural disasters and other power interruptions.
Isaiah Vivanco, Chairman of the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, said his tribe is working on a $8.5 million project that will provide 1.5 megawatts of solar and battery backup for its facilities in Riverside County.
“This couldn’t have been done without programs like EPIC and other state and federal grants,” he said.
Recordings from the symposium are available on the EPIC Symposium event webpage.
Comments