Over the past several years, leaders at CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy) have been working to retire the Ormond Beach Generating Station, which is currently being paid to remain available as an emergency "break-the-glass" reliability resource.
Since March 2024, taxpayers have been paying approximately $13 million per month — or $150 million annually — through the Electricity Supply Strategic Reliability Reserve program to keep the plant available, despite minimal actual operation. Not only a costly expense, this dirty resource burdens the residents and communities living right next door.
Rather than asking taxpayers to pay for polluting power plants that provide little actual utility, we should be investing in local resources like community solar plus storage, which can help our state meet skyrocketing electricity needs while reducing dependence on aging gas peaker plants.
Here's how it works: Californians subscribe to local, small-scale community solar projects on unused farmland or warehouse rooftops. They receive a credit back on their monthly utility bill. There's no up-front costs and no fee to cancel.
A community solar plus storage program in California would directly benefit low-income communities and communities of color that are on the front lines of extreme weather, climate disasters, and pollution. Nationally, nearly two million Latino families live within a half-mile radius of existing oil and gas facilities. It is not a coincidence that communities of color also see higher rates of cancer and asthma.
These same polluting practices from oil and gas companies cause more and more damage to our climate, while our communities face raging wildfires, shrinking water supply, and extreme heat waves that hit hardest to those who work long hours outdoors, lack access to emergency information, and are excluded from disaster aid due to their immigration status.
Our communities every day are facing multiple and intersectional issues all at once, and so we must hold the state responsible for its promise to us: move California away from relying on large fossil fuel plants and instead invest in distributed, community-scale clean energy resources that strengthen reliability and resilience.
Residents and communities living next to legacy, polluting fossil fuel should not be forced to breathe in particular matter, while at risk of medical debt compounded with rising utility bills. Air pollution from fossil fuel use is already estimated to cause between $430 billion and $870 billion in health expenses every year in the United States. A cleaner, renewable grid reduces pollution-related deaths by 53,000 per year and prevents family trips to the emergency room.
Community solar plus storage is a localized solution that provides more clean energy to the grid. The problem is, we don't currently have a workable community solar plus storage program in our state. Low-income Californians can't benefit from the promise of solar if they don't own homes or can't afford the investment of putting solar panels on their roofs.
Legislation that's currently in front of the California Senate — AB 1813 — would strengthen the community solar plus storage program that's lacking. Passing this legislation would enable us to catch up with the more than 20 other states that have community solar programs. It would benefit low-income communities and communities of color that have too often been sidelined in the transition to clean energy.
Over time, the power of community organizing can overcome corporate interests seeking to slow progress. In April 2025, we achieved the passage of a city resolution in which the Oxnard City Council said it opposed future extensions of the Ormond Beach Generating Station. More recently, we heard that the water board has reaffirmed its commitment to retirement by the end of this year.
We will continue to organize to hold state officials and city councilmembers accountable to using their power to shut this power plant down for good. At the same time, we'll continue to advocate for adding more clean energy to the grid that will benefit communities not only in the Central Coast, but across all of California.
Passing AB 1813 will mean that low-income communities who have been on the front lines of pollution and locked out of the promise of clean energy for far too long will finally be able to reap the benefits of lower bills and cleaner air. That's a result that's worth fighting for.
Lucia Marquez is the Associate Policy Director with The Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE).
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: California needs a community solar plus storage program | Your Turn