Leadership Program visits one of the nation's largest energy storage sites

On June 17, participants of the Oxnard Leadership Program explored the past, present and future of local energy. They met with leaders from Southern California Edison, Western States Petroleum Association, Clean Power Alliance, CFROG, and CalNRG. They also received exclusive tours of the California Oil Museum and the Saticoy Battery Energy Storage System that features 142 Tesla Megapacks.

It was a packed day coordinated by Justin Campbell, a 2018 Oxnard Leadership graduate and an Environmental Scientist with Catalyst Environmental Solutions. The group met at the WVCBA conference room in Oxnard and spent the morning meeting with Ben Oakley, Regional Manager of Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and Olivia Simonson, Head of Legal and Communications for California Natural Resources Group (CalNRG). 

After, everyone carpooled a couple miles north off the Vineyard exit i the 101 for an exclusive tour of one of the largest battery energy storage sites in the U.S. They were led by Lakshmi Nandakkumar, Senior Asset Manager of Arevon, the renewable energy company that owns the site. Energy stored on the site can power Oxnard for four hours or all of Ventura County for 30 minutes.

Next up was lunch and an exclusive tour of the California Oil Museum in Santa Paula. Although the museum is currently closed, Campbell is President of the museum's foundation board and reopened the doors for Energy Day, giving a sneak peek at what's ahead for the museum.

The day's last sessions were back at the WVCBA conference room. They discussed local energy operations with Rudy Gonzalez, Principal Manager, Government Relations with Southern California Edison, and Joe Cabral, External Affairs Manager with Clean Power Alliance and a Class of 2022 Oxnard Leadership member. They ended the day meeting with Karina Kaye, Board Vice Chair of Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas, to understand local energy from the perspective of an environmental advocacy organization.