Valley Clean Energy is proud to be the clean electricity provider for Yolo County. Over the past five years we’ve grown to serve over 60,000 customers and fulfilled our mission to provide clean electricity, product choice, and greenhouse gas emission reductions — all with local control at competitive prices. Since inception we’ve hit the ground running and made sizable impacts on the communities we serve.
The Beginning
In 2018, Valley Clean Energy was born out of a need for an alternative energy solution to investor-owned utilities for the residents and businesses within Yolo County. These communities hold a true passion for the option to take control of the type of energy they use and reduce the amount of greenhouse emissions they deploy. It made sense for a CCA to answer this need and take the lead.
The path to getting started wasn’t always smooth. VCE overcame challenges to secure funding in our early years that would continue to serve our customers as time passed. We’ve invested in public EV chargers, provided EV rebates, and offered clean energy at competitive rates. Our diligent and committed leadership, staff, board members, and CAC members are the true heroes of the VCE story. Without the hard work of these individuals, our organization would not have been able to make as big of an impact as it has so far. We are truly proud to be part of a community that cares so deeply about clean energy.
We’re Making a Difference
It’s hard to believe that we’re already in our fifth year of service and it is incredible that we’ve been able to accomplish so much in such a short amount of time. We’ve expanded our service territory, secured contracts to ensure clean energy for our customers, launched our AgFIT pilot program (and won an award for it!), and serviced over 60,000 customers. Not to mention, we’ve contracted for many new energy generation projects including 243 MW of renewable energy, 128 MW of battery storage, and 7 MW of demand response. Our local projects serving Yolo County have created jobs for local residents and kept money in our local economy. The best part? We are just getting started! It is our goal by 2025 to bring an additional 13 MW of solar energy generation and 13 MW of battery storage to Yolo County. These installations will keep money in our local economy all while providing more clean energy throughout the county.
Providing clean electricity to our customers is our mission, however we also believe it is our responsibility to support our customers along the path to a clean energy future. Over the past five years, VCE has secured $1 million for irrigation automation, launched a successful Ultragreen program with nearly 500 opted-up customers using 100% clean energy, and saved CARE and FERA members throughout our service territory over $1.5 million on electricity bills.
In Fall of 2022 we launched our EV Rebate Program. Since then, we’ve been able to grant nearly $120,000 in rebates to new EV owners throughout Yolo County. We are proud to have been able to help our customers save even more money on their investment in an electric vehicle. This is just one more way we’re committed to reducing greenhouse emissions. VCE will remain committed to this cause and we plan to release phase two of our EV rebate program this year.
Celebrating in Central Park
June marked Valley Clean Energy’s fifth anniversary and in commemoration of this milestone, we took the opportunity to connect with the communities throughout our service area. We hosted two customer appreciation events, one in Woodland and the other in Davis. These events gave members of the community an opportunity to meet our team, converse with other VCE customers and EV drivers, hear from leaders within our state government, connect with local businesses, receive a free meal from a local food truck, and enjoy an afternoon outdoors.
At the Davis event, we offered an EV ride and drive and facilitated 60 new EV experiences! Participants were given the option between a Kia EV6 or a Ford Mach-E. We also partnered with Friends of Yolo County Animal Services to host a pet adoption during the event. Because, who can resist cute puppies?
We were honored to have been presented with a Special Recognition Congressional Certificate by special guest Rep. Mike Thompson, California, 4th District Congressman. We were also thrilled to have special guest speakers Siva Gunda, Vice Chair of the California Energy Commission, Darcie L. Houck, California Public Utilities Commissioner, and VCE’s Chair, Tom Stallard. We are grateful for their recognition, congratulatory words, and continued support. If you missed the Davis event, you can catch snippets of their speeches in this video. We’ll continue our celebration with another customer appreciation event in Winters this coming July. Check our events page or follow us on social media for event updates.
It’s safe to say that although we’re excited about our accomplishments, we’re even more excited about our future as Yolo County’s clean electricity provider. VCE will continue to expand our customer base and keep providing cost-saving programs for our customers. As we move forward in our goal towards less fossil fuels and more abundant clean energy, Valley Clean Energy remains steadfast in our commitment to our community. Cheers to five years, and many more to come