Pasadena Charts Ambitious Course To 100% Clean Energy By 2030, Drawing Both Support And Scrutiny

City leaders expressed broad support Monday night for an ambitious plan to transition Pasadena to 100% carbon-free electricity by the end of 2030 while engaging in detailed discussions about the technical and practical challenges of achieving what would make the City a leader in California’s push for clean energy.

The City is already forecasting it will exceed the state’s SB 100 clean energy target more than 15 years ahead of mandate, with projections showing 91% of annual generation will be carbon-free by 2030 and 89% of delivered energy carbon-free across all hours of operation.

“When we approved the IRP, we were at a projection of 55% carbon-free energy on an hour-by-hour basis and we’re at 89% today, which already shoots beyond what we thought were our wildest imaginings then,” said Councilmember Jason Lyon, referring to progress since approving the City’s Integrated Resource Plan just 10 months ago.

The Optimized Strategic Plan (OSP), presented by consulting firm Energy and Environmental Economics (E3) after six technical advisory panel meetings, three Municipal Services Committee reviews, and community engagement, outlines three core scenarios: one using only currently available technologies like solar, wind and battery storage; another incorporating emerging green hydrogen technology at the Glenarm Power Plant; and a third leveraging long-duration energy storage solutions still under development.

Visualization data presented to the City Council showed dramatic shifts in hourly energy patterns, with increasing periods where Pasadena will produce excess clean energy to sell back to the California grid, while still facing challenges in covering overnight hours when solar generation isn’t available.

Vice Mayor Steve Madison emphasized favorable market conditions. “All I read about in The Wall Street Journal and the government and business press is how many billions and billions of dollars are chasing clean energy because of leaders like the City of Pasadena that are demanding it,” he said.

Councilmembers raised concerns about recent solar company bankruptcies and proprietary systems that make servicing difficult.

David Reyes, Acting General Manager of Pasadena Water and Power, revealed the utility is meeting with California Institute of Technology professors to study expanded rooftop solar potential.

The plan acknowledges significant challenges unique to Pasadena’s circumstances, including its relatively small electric system, dense urban environment with limited land use, and restricted connection capacity to the broader California grid.

“These are all aspects of the question that I think are going to make this a sort of unique effort to look at what the transition to 100% clean energy looks like,” said Nick Schlag, a partner with E3.

The City will track progress through a new Clean Energy Tracker dashboard, updated quarterly, measuring compliance with state mandates, carbon-free generation percentage, and average hourly matching of clean energy to demand.

Officials expect substantial positive economic impacts for the City, local businesses, and hospitality sector, while acknowledging risks including financial uncertainties, public safety considerations, and potential service level impacts.

“The way that we see this process kind of culminating is that we’ll work through these case studies, but in the end, what they tell us are, what are the common themes that we can see across them? What are potential least regrets, actions? What steps do we need to do to preserve optionality in this process?” Schlag explained.

The plan will continue through three phases — preparatory studies, portfolio development, and impacts assessment — leading to a final action plan, with regular updates to the City Council and ongoing community engagement through public meetings and the technical advisory panel.