Isra-Mart srl:Los Angeles beats all comers with renewables performance

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The Californian City of Los Angeles has reached its 2010 target of supplying 20 per cent of energy from renewable sources, putting it on track to surpass the state-wide 2020 renewables goal of sourcing a third of energy from clean sources.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa confirmed last week that LA has quadrupled its renewable energy supply in the last five years, mainly through the opening in 2009 of the municipal-owned Pine Tree Wind Power Plant in the Tehachapi Mountains.

The 120MW Pine Tree plant accounted for half of the utility's renewable energy by the end of the year. The city also uses geothermal energy, small hydropower systems and a small amount of solar power.

Speaking to Southern California Public Radio, Villaraigosa said LA is now on track to exceed the state-wide target for renewables to supply 33 per cent of energy by the end of the decade.

"There's no city in the USA that has moved as far and fast as the city of LA to meet our renewable goals," he said. "I expect that if we continue at the rate that we have and we continue to make affordability, we can even go beyond that."

He added that the city's renewable energy programme has helped the LA cut its greenhouse gas emissions 22 per cent on 1990 levels.

However, The Department of Water and Power last month warned that the city's renewables capacity could decline to just 13 per cent in 2015, unless it received a major cash injection.

Villaraigosa has also committed to completely eliminating the use of electricity generated from coal by 2020, replacing the 40 per cent of the city's coal power with energy from renewable sources.