Cities across the country are increasingly interested in partnerships to advance energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, and low-carbon mobility. Collaborative partnerships between cities and utilities serve as opportunities to advance these goals and can lay the foundation for clean energy solution implementation, policy change, and community engagement. Through collaboration, cities and utilities can leverage a diverse set of resources and connections to take a holistic approach in addressing climate issues that satisfy community needs, increase resource access, create supportive regulatory environments, and help utilities grow.
This portfolio of case studies features highly effective city-utility partnerships that have and will continue to accelerate clean energy, transportation electrification, and climate action in their communities. This case study collection features the following four partnerships:
- Chicago & Commonwealth Edison (ComEd): Leveraging Utility Investments in a Community of the Future
- Detroit & DTE Energy (DTE): Advancing Electrification & Sustainability in Detroit
- Los Angeles (LA) & Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP): LA Commits to 100% Clean Energy
- Salt Lake City & Rocky Mountain Power: A Partnership for a Carbon Negative Future
The purpose of this collection of case studies is to give both cities and utilities an overview of partnerships that have been beneficial in advancing sustainability goals and how these partnerships are created and evolve. The case studies address the following questions:
- How are these collaborative efforts tackling clean energy and transportation issues?
- What approaches are replicable and accelerate success?
- How are equity, workforce development, and resilience goals woven into the collaborations?
These case studies were selected to provide examples of partnerships between both small and large cities and municipally-owned utilities (MOUs) and investor-owned utilities (IOUs) in a variety of geographies and regulatory environments. They demonstrate how city governments and utilities are implementing renewable energy, energy efficiency, grid modernization, and mobility electrification initiatives to drive positive community change and progress towards city targets.