Project Results
CCA is an effective policy option expected to achieve higher GHG emissions reductions and competitive pricing when compared to other policy options.
You can download a copy of the study below.
| 0606_cca_ulca_report_revised.pdf |
WEBINAR : CCA to Decarbonize the Data Center Capital of the World [05/25/2022]
Project Description
"Community Choice Aggregation to Decarbonize the Data Center Capital of the World"
This report was written by five graduate students in Public Policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs as part of their Applied Policy Project needed for graduation. Virginia Clean Energy was the client, and provided assistance to the students. However, VCE is not responsible for any errors and omissions in the report.
Report authors:
The report compares and evaluates three policy options in regards to energy procurement for Loudoun County: 1) implementing CCA, 2) maintaining Dominion Energy’s status quo, and 3) raising state renewable portfolio standards (RPS), seeking to answer the question: What would be the impact of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) in Loudoun County for decarbonizing data center energy usage? These efforts lead to a variety of significant findings, chiefly that the implementation of a CCA to decarbonize data centers is financially feasible and will pass those benefits onto its customers.
This report was written by five graduate students in Public Policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs as part of their Applied Policy Project needed for graduation. Virginia Clean Energy was the client, and provided assistance to the students. However, VCE is not responsible for any errors and omissions in the report.
Report authors:
- Qiyun Gong
- Aram Grigoryan
- Koji Isowa
- Yunsue Jo
- Jacqueline Robles
The report compares and evaluates three policy options in regards to energy procurement for Loudoun County: 1) implementing CCA, 2) maintaining Dominion Energy’s status quo, and 3) raising state renewable portfolio standards (RPS), seeking to answer the question: What would be the impact of Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) in Loudoun County for decarbonizing data center energy usage? These efforts lead to a variety of significant findings, chiefly that the implementation of a CCA to decarbonize data centers is financially feasible and will pass those benefits onto its customers.
Project Background
Data centers are the backbone of the modern internet age and are critical to processing, storing, and disseminating large-scale data. Most Americans probably think that the “center” of the Internet is in Silicon Valley, California, but in fact, Loudoun County, Virginia, near Washington, DC, has the world’s highest concentration of data centers in the world. Nicknamed “Data Center Alley”, Loudoun County claims 70 percent of the world’s internet traffic passes through its borders, and is dramatically expanding beyond that. Some of those tenants, including the largest internet companies, Facebook, Google, Apple, and others, have set ambitious goals of up to 100 percent renewable electricity, but the incumbent monopoly Investor-Owned Utility provides only a fraction of that through the existing grid.
In the past 10 years, California has been able to dramatically increase the production and consumption of renewable energy through an alternative energy procurement model called Community Choice Aggregation (CCA). CCA, also known as municipal aggregation, allows counties, cities, and municipalities to aggregate electrical energy load of residential, commercial, and industrial retail customers within their boundaries.
The idea to analyze how CCA would compare with different policy options for Loudoun County to decarbonize its energy procurement and in particular its data centers was submitted to UCLA as an Applied Policy Project topic in July 2021, and the study started in the fall. The UCLA study builds off previous CCA studies including a report on Loudoun County’s data centers by Greenpeace, to investigate the benefits and impacts to data centers of participating in a potential CCA in Loudoun County, following its interest in a potential CCA with the issuance of a contract in 2021 to a consulting company to conduct a feasibility study and legal analysis. The UCLA report goal is to assist the county’s efforts.
In the past 10 years, California has been able to dramatically increase the production and consumption of renewable energy through an alternative energy procurement model called Community Choice Aggregation (CCA). CCA, also known as municipal aggregation, allows counties, cities, and municipalities to aggregate electrical energy load of residential, commercial, and industrial retail customers within their boundaries.
The idea to analyze how CCA would compare with different policy options for Loudoun County to decarbonize its energy procurement and in particular its data centers was submitted to UCLA as an Applied Policy Project topic in July 2021, and the study started in the fall. The UCLA study builds off previous CCA studies including a report on Loudoun County’s data centers by Greenpeace, to investigate the benefits and impacts to data centers of participating in a potential CCA in Loudoun County, following its interest in a potential CCA with the issuance of a contract in 2021 to a consulting company to conduct a feasibility study and legal analysis. The UCLA report goal is to assist the county’s efforts.
