Goleta to Run All City Facilities on 100 Percent Renewable Energy

‘We Hope to Inspire Others to Join Us in This Effort,’ Says Mayor

Mountain View Wind project, Palm Springs, California, delivers wind power to 3CE customers under a 20-year power purchase agreement. | Credit: Courtesy

The City of Goleta is moving to 100 percent clean, renewable energy for all city facilities, starting in July.

On Tuesday, May 7, the Goleta City Council unanimously approved this power-move, made possible by the city’s Community Choice Aggregator of Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), a public agency that sources competitively priced electricity from clean and renewable energy resources.

“Moving to 100 percent renewable energy is a significant step the City of Goleta is taking to combat climate change,” Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte said. “By powering our Community Center, library, City Hall, streetlights, and other facilities with solar and wind, we’ll be cutting the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, and we hope to inspire others to join us in this effort.”

Goleta is trying to be early in meeting the California Senate Bill 100 mandate — requiring 100 percent of the state’s electricity needs to be powered with renewable and zero-carbon resources by 2045. The city’s goal is to reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, with an interim goal to power municipal facilities with 50 percent renewable electricity by 2025.

The split between solar and wind power will be approximately 50/50.

“Cities are on the front lines when it comes to combating climate change,” said the city’s sustainability manager, Dana Murray. “Cities like Goleta are also leading the world in reducing carbon emissions through aggressive policies and adoption of clean technologies.”

Goleta City Hall is already running on solar energy generated by the Monarch Solar Array, which was put on the grid in August 2022. The system powers 84 percent of City Hall’s electricity usage, saving the city roughly $6,000 and avoiding around 75 metric tons of CO2 emissions in its first year of operation.

“The remainder of Goleta’s municipal electricity usage for all facilities and city-owned streetlights is 245.6 metric tons of CO2 emitted,” the city said in its news release. “Moving the City’s municipal electricity accounts to … 100 percent clean, renewable energy would effectively reduce those carbon emissions to zero, reducing the City’s total municipal GHG emissions by approximately 20 percent.”

The city encourages residents to take action by being part of the City’s Go Green Goleta initiative. To learn more, visit GoGreenGoleta.org.