DAVIS, Calif. (December 29, 2020) — As the calendar turns from 2020 to 2021, Valley Clean Energy announces new leaders at the helm of the not-for-profit local electricity provider.
Dan Carson, a Davis City Councilmember, was voted in as chair to the VCE Board in 2021, and Winters City Councilmember Jesse Loren was voted in as Vice Chair. Both votes were unanimous. The VCE Board is comprised of two representatives from each of the communities it serves — the cities of Woodland, Davis and Winters and unincorporated Yolo County. Loren’s appointment couldn’t be more timely, as the community of Winters is currently enrolling customers in VCE service.
“My main responsibility as Board Chair will be to work with our Vice Chair Jesse Loren, other board colleagues, our excellent staff and our Community Advisory Committee to faithfully implement the agency’s first-ever Strategic Plan to provide increasingly clean and low-carbon power to our customers,” Carson said.
He added that the Strategic Plan was drafted under the guidance of Don Saylor, a Yolo County Supervisor who chaired the VCE Board in 2020.
“Valley Clean Energy is pursuing ambitious efforts to buy more cost-effective clean and renewable power, such as solar and wind and battery storage resources, including some power from producers within our own county,” Carson continued. “We are making terrific progress in our efforts to respond to the threat of climate change and reduce our community’s electricity-related greenhouse gas emissions.”
Carson said another major goal is to preserve and enhance local control over electrical power choices, “seeking solutions that will help us to control our own energy destiny and give our customers what they demanded—greater energy independence and resilience.”
Loren said the agency is also working hard to bring innovative energy programs to the communities it serves, such as the deployment of $2.9 million in grant funding for public electric vehicle charging stations in strategic locations, among them two sites in downtown Winters.
Loren said, “It’s an honor to be part of an agency with such high values of stewardship and local control. I am honored and excited to work collaboratively with staff, fellow Directors, and Chair Dan Carson in 2021!”
Carson and his wife Maureen have lived in Davis for 30 years and raised three sons there. Before his election to the Davis City Council in 2018, he spent 17 years at the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, retiring in 2012 as deputy. He was responsible for budget and policy analysis work by that office relating to energy, environmental programs, health, social services, criminal justice, transportation and general government.
Loren, who was elected to the Winters City Council in 2016, raised her three children in Winters. She taught English, math, integrated science, AVID and journalism in Yolo and Solano County school districts, retiring to pursue her career in public service.
The VCE board members are appointed annually by their respective agencies, and are not paid by VCE to serve on the board. They meet monthly in open meetings to which the public is invited to participate. Meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic are held virtually, via Zoom.
For meeting schedules, visit https://valleycleanenergy.org/board-meetings/. To receive meeting notices, visit https://valleycleanenergy.org/get-in-touch/.