Local agency vs. political economy in low-income energy transitions in California: the case of the Bassett–Avocado Heights Advanced Energy Community

Abstract In California, the progressive electrification of residential buildings is one of the primary mechanisms by which the state intends to decarbonize urban life. State action on residential decarbonization via electrification has involved efforts to encourage the adoption of efficient electrified appliances, home energy management systems, and distributed generation and storage technologies. New programs and sociotechnical demonstration projects have sought to develop scalable and replicable techno-economic means of decarbonizing residential buildings and fostering local renewable generation in ways that include disadvantaged communities in state plans for a just and equitable energy transition. Despite the growing scale and variety of residential electrification and decarbonization interventions, questions remain about how increasingly heterogeneous urban electrical configurations will be governed, and whether state and private sector actors can, in cooperation with disadvantaged communities, create just and equitable modalities of hybrid infrastructural governance. In this study, we examine the interplay of systemic imperatives and local preferences through the implementation of the Bassett–Avocado Heights Advanced Energy Community (BAAEC). With respect to both of the project’s sociotechnical interventions, we find that concerns relating to profitability and replicability strongly shape the process and outcome dimensions of the project, raising concerns about how community actors are enrolled in state-led energy community initiatives.