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THE city of Los Angeles will stop using electricity generated in coal-fired power plants by 2020 and expand its use of renewable power instead, its newly re-elected mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says.

Coal-fired power – mostly imported from outside of California - currently accounts for 40% of the energy consumed in Los Angeles. Villaraigosa says that all this power will be replaced by renewable projects to be delivered by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), with the rest coming from natural gas, nuclear, and large hydroelectric units. LADPW says that renewables will already account for 20% of the power it supplies by 2010.

The project will form the core of LADWP’s mission to cut its carbon emissions by up to 60% from 1990 levels. The company will make additional emission cuts through efficiency gains, which it ways will reduce electricity consumption by 1% annually for the next ten years.

Deputy mayor David Freeman acknowledges that power rates will go up as a result of the switch to renewable, but will remain in line with prices already charged by other power operators. "The rates are going to go up," he says.. "There is no way you can bring in renewable energy and not have some rate impact when you replace coal. But the value to society even aside from global warming is going to be positive."

Los Angeles currently receives 1280 MW of power from the 2250 MW Navajo plant in Arizona and the 1800 MW Intermountain plant in Utah, both of which are coal-fired power plants. The city says it will not renew its contract with Navaho when it expires in 2019, and is expected to negotiate an early exit from a contract extending to 2026 with Intermountain’s owners, the Tennessee Valley Authority.