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Peeved Commissioner Proposes City 'Green Power Czar' Critics Say Utility Moving Too Slowly

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 00:00 CST

By Dan Laidman\ Staff Writer

Concerned that the Department of Water and Power is moving too slowly to adopt clean energy, a commissioner called Monday for a "Green Power Czar" who would be independent of the utility's bureaucracy.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's panel of commissioners overseeing the DWP has set a goal of 20 percent renewable energy by 2010, several years ahead of a similar state goalpost. However, the panelists have grown frustrated with slower-than-expected progress.

The Daily News reported Monday that the utility's signature Green Power Program, in which customers voluntarily pay extra to fund clean energy, has seen its participation and revenue decline steeply.

"It's unacceptable," said Commissioner Nick Patsaouras. "It's one of the mayor's biggest campaign promises and we are now entering April and I said all along unless everything is in place in 2006 there is no way."

The commissioners expressed disappointment last week when DWP managers delivered a quarterly update on efforts to add power from renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal and waste-to-energy conversion.

The panelists thought progress was too slow and they were dismayed to learn that a wind project would be delayed another year because of problems they were not all aware of.

"If we had not asked for the quarterly report, when would we know?" Patsaouras said.

Patsaouras said he will seek to give the board more direct control over the renewable power portfolio by making the proposed "Green Power Czar" accountable directly to the panel, not DWP management.

Rhonda Mills of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies welcomed the idea.

"It couldn't come soon enough," she said. "There is a deficit of expertise on these technologies."

Mills cited the delayed wind project - in the works since 2001 - as an example of how the city has discouraged renewable development. Managers approve traditional "dirty" power projects more quickly, she said, because they understand them better and it is what they are used to.

"They're trying to find the solutions but the city system and procedures are antiquated and dense," she said. "That's why we've been working on one silly little power plant for five years."

Dan Laidman, (213) 978-0390

dan.laidman(at)dailynews.com

Source: Daily News; Los Angeles, Calif.

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