California Large Public Power Utility Leader on Transition to Clean Energy
Sacramento Municipal Utility District General Manager Paul Lau joins Public Utilities Fortnightly and Guidehouse to discuss its journey to net zero
This is a transformational time as the U.S. and the whole world are transitioning to a zero-carbon economy, and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has been at the forefront of this shift as one of the first large utilities in the U.S. to make a zero-carbon commitment in its electric supply by 2030. In this publication of Public Utilities Fortnightly (PUF), Guidehouse’s Chris Rogers joined PUF in discussion with Paul Lau, General Manager of SMUD, to discuss the organization's ambitious goals and how it is handling its decarbonization journey.
"Over the next four years, we are investing close to $11 billion in the U.S. Imagine the expansion we’re talking about here if over the last 17 years we made more than $17 billion of investment."
— Paul Lau, General Manager, Sacramento Municipal Utility DistrictThe Sacramento Municipal Utility District is the nation’s sixth-largest community-owned electric utility and serves some 1.5 million customers within nine hundred miles in and adjacent to Sacramento. It was one of the first large utilities in the U.S. to make a zero-carbon commitment in its electric supply by 2030.
"Over the next four years, we are investing close to $11 billion in the U.S.," Lau shared. "Imagine the expansion we’re talking about here if over the last 17 years we made more than $17 billion of investment."
This article is part of a series of interviews with Western states utility leaders that Guidehouse is conducting with PUF.
Related interviews can be found below:
