Clean Energy in 2020

Providing 100% Clean Power to All Customers 

When did Alameda Municipal Power start providing 100% clean energy?

On January 1, 2020, AMP began providing 100% clean energy to all customers, placing Alameda in a select group of cities leading the nation in the transition to green power. AMP has achieved this milestone decades ahead of California’s goal of 100% clean power by 2045.

When did AMP begin its clean energy journey?

AMP has been a leader in the promotion of clean power since the 1980s. Residents and businesses wanted their power to come from renewable resources, so AMP added geothermal to its energy supply, followed by wind, landfill gas and hydropower over the next several decades.

How did AMP achieve a 100% clean energy mix in 2020?

By 2011, AMP easily exceeded the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, or RPS, that requires electric utilities to purchase a growing percentage of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

AMP developed so much renewable energy that it was able to strategically sell portions of it on a short-term basis to other utilities struggling to meet the RPS mandate. At the direction of the city of Alameda’s Public Utilities Board, funds from the short-term sales must be used for local investments in programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity use.

AMP’s short-term sales of renewable energy ended in 2019, making Alameda’s energy supply 100% clean as of January 1, 2020. AMP will meet Alameda’s energy needs with 100% clean energy for years to come.

What are AMP’s generation resources?

AMP’s clean power mix includes geothermal and hydroelectric sources, wind power and landfill gas.

Why does AMP describe itself as a “clean energy provider” instead of a “renewable energy provider”?

AMP’s power mix comes from clean energy sources, including “eligible renewable” sources and large hydroelectric sources. About 80% of AMP’s power mix came from eligible renewable resources, including:

• Geothermal from the Geysers in Lake and Sonoma Counties
• Biomass (landfill gas) from Pittsburg, Butte, Santa Cruz, Richmond and Half Moon Bay
• Small hydroelectric from Graeagle and Tuolumne County
• Winds from the High Winds Project in Sonoma County

An additional 20% of our power mix comes from large hydroelectric projects in California. Large hydroelectric sources produce clean energy. Since the state does not count power from large hydroelectric dams as “eligible renewable,” AMP describes its energy mix as clean instead of renewable.