University of California, Irvine
IN-24: Innovation A

As part of a competition funded by the California Energy Commission, UCI’s Advanced Power and Energy Program has spearheaded a novel partnership to develop and demonstrate a replicable, economic and safe method for converting low-income neighborhoods into models of energy efficiency. The UCI-led project focuses on the historically disadvantaged Oak View neighborhood in the city of Huntington Beach, California, and utilizes existing energy infrastructure in concert with a wide array of energy saving, conversion and storage options – including solar, wind, and renewable gas – to develop a near-net-zero energy and emissions community. The Oak View Advanced Energy Community design includes deployment of power-to-gas hydrogen pipeline injection, a concept initially and successfully demonstrated at UCI (UCI’s STARS Innovation 1 in 2017). The project was awarded a grant from the Energy Commission’s Electric Program Investment Charge, an energy innovation program that funds design, applied research and development, technology demonstration and deployment, and market facilitation to create new energy solutions, foster regional innovation, and bring clean energy ideas to the marketplace. The Advanced Energy Communities competition was developed in response to California’s commitment to meet 33% of its electricity demands with renewable resources by 2020 and toward achieving the state’s policy of utilizing 50% renewable resources by 2030. APEP researchers, the city of Huntington Beach (a local government), Altura Associates, Inc. (a built environment technology developer), Southern California Edison and SoCalGas (investor-owned utilities), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are working together to design the Oak View Advanced Energy Community.

An article from the December 1, 2017, issue of the The Orange County Register, includes the following description of the Oak View community: “The mile-square Oak View neighborhood is made up mostly of apartments with a handful of single-family homes. … In a county with a 3.3 percent unemployment rate, only about 48 percent of Oak View residents older than 16 have a job, according to data provided by the city [of Huntington Beach]. Likewise, per capita income in Oak View is $16,700, less than half the per capita income countywide.” To read the entire article, go to: https://www.ocregister.com/2017/12/01/race-to-rewire-california-will-happen-one-neighborhood-at-a-time/