What if Los Angeles could build clean energy faster and cheaper, and keep the savings for the people who live here? This briefing from the Jain Family Institute and the Berggruen Institute shows how a public bank could do just that, speeding up community and utility-scale renewable energy for a just climate transition.
LA already owns its utility, the Department of Water and Power. Paired with federal clean energy incentives, a public bank could substantially cut LADWP’s costs while returning a profit to LA taxpayers.
The briefing walks through how renewable energy projects get financed today and where the gaps are, then shows how a public bank could fill them. The result is cheaper energy for the city, and savings from the green transition that go to LA workers and taxpayers instead of Wall Street.
To show the impact, the authors project the lifetime cost of energy from new solar and wind projects. With public bank financing, those costs drop well below what current policies deliver, saving tens of thousands of dollars over the life of each project. The briefing covers community solar, utility-scale solar, onshore and offshore wind, and more.
Download the full briefing here.
