In addition to our ongoing Innovation Series articles by local thought leaders, this is the first of several articles to promote our upcoming annual Green Tech event which will be held on April 7, 2021. Stay tuned for details.

OurEnergy is a technical consulting, engineering and project development services company headquartered in Santa Cruz, CA. Dustin Jolley, PE, LEED AP founded OurEnergy in 2016 with the goal of leveraging his two decades of experience in the industry, applying his skills and passion for renewable energy and sustainable development to a new platform and company.

SCW: Tell us about OurEnergy

Jolley: OurEnergy is leading in the local clean and resilient energy space with several projects that test new project delivery and operational models with a range of clients including public entities, private companies, developers, utilities and institutional clients. These include collaboration and coordination with established key stakeholders, who likewise are moving to adapt and testing new models of their own. We consider each as a unique case and develop the optimal model through deep coordination and tailored solutions.

SCW: How do we build a greener Santa Cruz?

Jolley: There are several pathways to develop resilient renewable energy-powered microgrids using commercially available technology and existing structures allowable under current regulations:

• Privately developed, owned, operated, and controlled systems. These include primarily private residences, businesses, and institutional campuses. These types of microgrids are currently limited by regulation to single consumer/entities or groups of consumers under a single entity or landlord.

• Publicly owned utility systems. These include municipal electric utilities and other similar public entities with governing boards. All assets are typically owned and operated, and services provided by a public entity. Several variants on this also exist:


  • Blended public-private model - can include private business investment and services to the POU, so long as the POU is the retail load-serving entity in the case of serving multiple customers. These may also include the single building or facility projects sited at and serving public buildings/operations such as administrative offices, public safety, civic centers, or other public utility facilities such as water treatment plants. These blended projects can leverage certain private finance/investment, and operations services for efficiencies, management of risk, and monetization of incentives.

  • Other variants include but are not limited to micro-utility and Special District models. 

Each pathway has a playbook for implementation, pros/cons and value proposition - Project proponents must always consider context and stakeholders, end-users and a host of other considerations when assessing project feasibility and structuring options. 

We believe there are many benefits to be gained for the appropriate application of all of these options. In all cases with public stakeholders it is essential to have champions internal to those key stakeholders, along with majority political will and community support to implement successfully. Local government can play a powerful role for the benefit of the community it serves, championing the effort for local energy solutions.

SCW: How do municipalities fit?

Jolley: Municipalities are uniquely positioned to offer utility services to their communities, much as is commonly done in municipal water supply and treatment. Municipalities are already afforded broad powers to implement such projects and services under existing and well-established regulatory structures.

One local municipal microgrid to serve the city of Gonzales, currently nearing implementation, has been getting some attention. This project leverages the municipal publicly owned utility model in conjunction with a private investment and operations partner; we think this has the potential to be a replicable model for community microgrids.

SCW: What is going on with local clean energy, energy resilience, cost, and access?

Jolley: The inefficiencies and flaws in our current electric power system seem obvious to most of us at this point, this antiquated infrastructure has remained mostly unchanged in terms of its general architecture and operating arrangement for over 100 years. The vulnerabilities and shortcomings are increasingly making big news and affecting all of us. Such a vast and entrenched infrastructure requires persistent cooperation and strong will at all levels of government, business and community to change and modernize. We at OurEnergy are thrilled to play our part.

With individuals, corporations, local governments, and legislation all driving toward green energy and resilience, commercially available solutions and innovations have been rapidly becoming cheaper, more efficient and widespread. 

With environmental and social imperatives, broad market demand, and technological improvements, we are seeing unprecedented growth in the energy sector away from monopolization and centralized fossil fueled generation, to a new era of less expensive, cleaner distributed generation affording greater inclusivity, socio-economic and environmental justice.

Here at home, the state of California continues to lead in policy and program development in support of the transition to clean energy. 3CE, the state’s largest Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program now serves many of us all along the central coast with a charter of promoting and enabling local economic development via greater local choice of supply and participation in the energy sector. Many of our local public jurisdictions, including the City of Santa Cruz, have joined in membership to this municipal aggregation. This relatively new agency is poised to drive energy programs in our local area for the foreseeable future. 

Logic tells us that all of these improvements should help stem the rising cost of electricity, and many of those that are adopting local and onsite clean energy solutions are reaping the financial benefits. Meanwhile, incumbent utility rates continue to rise. More information about PG&E’s current General Rate Case can be found here. Information about 3CE’s rates can be found here. 

We have seen steady advancement of legislation calling for a redesign of the energy sector towards renewable energy sources. In 2002, Senate Bill (SB) 1078 launched this endeavor by requiring that 20% of all electricity retail sales be from renewable sources by 2017. They then expedited this process in 2015, with SB 350, mandating a 50% increase by 2050, and brought even more ambition in 2018 when SB 100 was signed into law. It officially requires the new Renewable Portfolio Standard to be 60% by 2030, and even more, it calls for 100% of California’s electricity to be carbon-free by 2045. California is delivering, in 2019, 36% of all retail electricity sales were provided by Renewable energy sources. 

Another push was made with Senate Bill 1339 which is actively driving the CPUC to examine and establish new microgrid and energy resilience rule-making, with initial rulings in that process rolling out starting in 2020. Those early rulings are directed toward utilities to advance their own energy resilience and expanded enablement programs, and future rulings are expected to open up the ways in which utilities, local governments, private companies and individuals can choose and participate in the energy supply, distribution and consumption value chain. An early example of this is PG&E’s CMEP. 3CE is empowered to roll out local programs that move the needle on all of this in our community. This can only happen through broad community engagement and participation to ensure they hit the mark.

Meanwhile, public agencies, private companies and institutions are planning and implementing new projects of their own. This all creates a push and pull between regulations and the market.

SCW: What do the current green energy market and demand for resiliency and microgrid development look like from the inside?

Jolley: In this case, we will focus on the supply-side of the equation. As in any business, renewable energy development is expected to adapt to develop competitive, advanced technology, and new techno-economic and operational structures to accommodate a changing market and new opportunities. Modernization, innovation, and optimization in the energy space can be broken down into two fundamental components:

1. Energy resources - this is an easy one right? Move to abundant, less costly, local, and renewable sources of energy. Ok, done. Renewable energy technology has now proven itself to be the lowest cost of power generation and has been the fastest-growing source of new power generation for a number of years now.


2. Architecture of the electric system - Symptoms of our aging and antiquated system are increasingly affecting all of us. There are inefficiencies in transmitting electricity long distances from remote, large/centralized power plants to urban and suburban pockets of loads to be served. More importantly, the fire and safety risk and lack of reliability and resiliency that the old architecture suffers from has become an acute weakness that must be addressed. Improvements in local more granular control over the grid and deep integration of local distributed energy resources (DERs) is a key solution to these symptoms. Fortunately, many of the most prolific renewable energy and energy storage technologies lend themselves well to modular and distributed arrangements. This solution however, is fundamentally disruptive to the incumbent energy utility construct. 

SCW: So, what is the optimal utility model? How will we maintain strength and relevance for all key stakeholders and how will that landscape change?

Jolley: The optimal utility model is being fiercely debated. Lessons are being learned from the past and new models being tested as we’ve discussed here. IMHO, there is a place for [variations on] the traditional investor owned utility and publicly owned utilities. As with the increased distribution of energy resources, so will we be moving toward a more diverse transactional landscape where instead of a one-way relationship between centralized owner/sellers and the masses of consumers, we will all have the ability to be owners, producers, consumers, and participants at whatever level we choose. The architecture of our electric system and the rules governing participation is the key to unlocking energy democratization, access, and justice.

About OurEnergy

At OurEnergy, our innovation here comes in the form of applying modern and commercially viable energy technologies in a highly efficient and locally appropriate way to achieve the needs and goals of the project and community. OurEnergy is purpose-built to nimbly advance the state of play in this space and implement this coming wave of energy system modernization through a combination of consulting and development services. OurEnergy leverages experience and knowledge of the industry & value chain, technical advancements, best practices, and energy ecosystem at large to structure new projects, including innovations in technical capability, business & operations, and financing. The company thrives in bringing stakeholders together and in guiding the process to an optimal solution.

About Dustin Jolley

After a couple of decades working in the industry, including a range of activity from grassroots hands-on work designing and installing small-scale and off-grid power systems, to academic research and development with an eye on the clean energy tech of the future, and a run at a leading Fortune 200 engineering firm taking renewable energy power systems to scale and the big business it is today. Dustin Jolley then took the entrepreneurial leap to build his own business: OurEnergy. He founded OurEnergy with the intent to provide follow-through and implementation for green energy innovations in a community-oriented and personal way.

Mission Statement from Dustin Jolley

“We have built and operate this company on an innovative structured network model. We have assembled and continue to grow & curate our network of hand-picked collaborative partners, comprising a team capable of providing concept to completion multidisciplinary project services. This model allows us to provide nimble and industry-leading service and experience, with scalable teams tailored to meet our clients’ and projects’ specific needs including the capability to handle large complex projects and services to sophisticated and ambitious clients. Our team is engaged and passionate about our work, and not burdened with a large corporate structure or overhead.

“Our experience and approach allow us to provide high-end service, and we are able to add value for our clients through personal and focused expert attention, streamlined solutions, and best value to cost. We love a challenge. Beyond the work, we have highlighted here in California and in our local community, we are actively involved in a wide portfolio of projects around the world. These include niche areas such hybrid renewables and microgrids, brownfield utilization, Tribal energy independence, green hydrogen tech, and several others. We have worked extensively throughout the Americas and in numerous locations overseas, including locations in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and on islands in the Asia/Pacific and Caribbean. Our network of collaborators is not bound by any border, and we are experienced in assembling teams to achieve results in remote project locations and emerging markets”.

Check out our work and learn more at www.ourenergyco.com