Energy Central Chats with Arash Saidi about LADWP's 100% Renewable Goals and SEPA Power Player Award

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) was recently recognized by SEPA via its Power Player Awards for demonstrating "industry leadership through unique innovation in an effort to significantly accelerate the transformation to a clean and modern energy system."

Wanting to see what lessons LADWP has learned in this process that could be invaluable to the rest of the utility industry, we connected with Arash Saidi, LADWP's Distributed Energy Resource Program Manager, to learn more about the initiative.

Arash noted:

Reaching 100% by 2035 will truly take a transformative investment in our power infrastructure. The LA100 study showed that under any pathway towards 100% carbon free, we will need to more that double the capacity of our existing system. We’ll need unprecedented buildout of transmission, distribution, solar, electric vehicles, and many other resources. One critical area will be ensuring transmission projects supporting this clean energy transformation are developed and built quickly, which may require policy or regulatory changes. We also think there is a significant opportunity for state and federal investments in long duration storage and green hydrogen technology, which we are optimistic will happen so we can see rapid technology development and cost declines.

Read the full interview with Arash here to see how LADWP is making this transformation happen and living up to its ambitious commitment.

How Does LADWP Plan to Reach 100 Percent Renewable Energy? with Arash Saidi, Manager of DER Development- [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Interview]

See also a full listing of Energy Central Power Perspectives Interviews with industry leaders, members of the Energy Central Network of Experts, and other notable thought leaders by heading to the Power Perspectives page.