Choosing Both and: Encouraging Green Energy Purchases in Community Choice Aggregation

Abstract

Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) programs offer green electricity products to satisfy customers’ demand for renewable energy. However, it is not clear how consumers approach combining renewable procurement options, such as installing rooftop solar and subscribing to green electricity. This study estimates the probability that residential CCA customers choose to purchase green energy at a price premium when they have already adopted (1) rooftop solar, (2) non-solar distributed energy resources (DER) such as electric vehicles, and (3) a time-varying electric rate. Based on residential customer data from Silicon Valley Clean Energy, a CCA in California, we fit a multi-level probit model that accounts for the potential clustering of green participation rates at the zip code level. Our findings suggest that households with installed solar panels, electric vehicles, time-varying electric rates, and lower energy consumption are more likely to purchase green electricity. Ultimately, this study provides insight into strategies for incentivizing consumers to combine green energy options to achieve broader goals related to climate change and grid resilience.

Keywords: photovoltaics, electric vehicles, Renewable energy, multi-level modelling, probit model, California