Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) has been awarded the U.S. Green Building Council - Los Angeles' (USGBC-LA) Sustainable Innovation Award in the category of "Energy and Operational Carbon" for its soon-to-be-completed [H2] Innovation Experience microgrid demonstration project in Downey, California. SoCalGas was honored at USGBC-LA's 12th Annual Sustainable Innovation Awards on December 8, which recognized companies' commitments to sustainability through projects that demonstrate exemplary performance.
"SoCalGas is making sustainability front and center in all that we do, and nowhere is that more apparent than our work on the [H2] Innovation Experience," said Jawaad Malik, vice president, strategy and sustainability and chief environmental officer for SoCalGas. "The clean fuels microgrid technology at the [H2] Innovation Experience showcases how new and existing energy infrastructure can work together to deliver reliable, around-the-clock energy that also helps California reach its climate goals more quickly and more affordably."
The [H2] Innovation Experience - named a world-changing idea by Fast Company in 2021 - is a clean hydrogen microgrid demonstration project featuring clean hydrogen production and storage along with a nearly 2,000 square-foot home that can draw power from solar panels on sunny days and convert excess renewable energy into clean hydrogen. Excess renewable energy can be stored and then converted back into electricity, as needed, via an on-site hydrogen fuel cell 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The microgrid is being constructed to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum standards and is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
The USGBC-LA sustainability award comes on the heels of SoCalGas being awarded in October the top "Business Transformation Award" at the 2022 Responsible Business Awards, hosted by Reuters Events, where the company was recognized for having established truly transformative sustainability priorities with the potential to create impact at scale in the energy sector and beyond.
SoCalGas has long made sustainability a priority at its facilities. The company's Energy Resource Center (ERC) earned California's first "Energy Star Building" award in 1995. Later, the ERC became the first building in California to receive the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED "green building" recognition. And it was certified as LEED Gold in 2013 - the second-highest designation - in recognition of the building's design in terms of carbon, energy, water, waste, transportation, materials, health and indoor environmental quality. And in 2018, the ERC was awarded WELL Certification at the Silver Level by the WELL Building Institute, an award for buildings and spaces that promote human health, well-being, and comfort in their design.
In 2021, SoCalGas became the first and the largest natural gas utility in the United States to announce its aim to have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. Earlier this year, SoCalGas announced its Sustainability Strategy, putting words into action by setting measurable clean energy and sustainability objectives. These efforts cover a broad range of goals and initiatives aimed at achieving a safe, reliable, resilient, affordable, and equitable energy transition to net zero. For more information, visit https://www.socalgas.com/sustainability.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8 million consumers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines will continue to play a key role in California's clean energy transition providing electric grid reliability and supporting wind and solar energy deployment.
SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy company in America. In support of that mission, SoCalGas aspires to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045 and to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply to core customers with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for customers. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), an energy infrastructure company based in San Diego.
For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.
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Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include risks and uncertainties relating to: decisions, investigations, regulations, issuances or revocations of permits or other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions by (i) the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, and other governmental and regulatory bodies and (ii) the U.S. and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein in which we do business; the success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks in (i) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, and (iii) obtaining the consent or approval of partners or other third parties, including governmental and regulatory bodies; civil and criminal litigation, regulatory inquiries, investigations, arbitrations and other proceedings, including those related to the natural gas leak at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility; changes to laws and regulations; cybersecurity threats, including by state and state-sponsored actors, by ransomware or other attacks on our systems or the systems of third-parties with which we conduct business, including to the energy grid or other energy infrastructure, all of which have become more pronounced due to recent geopolitical events, such as the war in Ukraine; failure of our counterparties to honor their contracts and commitments; our ability to borrow money on favorable terms or otherwise and meet our debt service obligations, including due to (i) actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or place those ratings on negative outlook and (ii) rising interest rates and inflation; the impact on our cost of capital and the affordability of customer rates due to volatility in inflation, interest rates and commodity prices and our ability to effectively hedge these risks; the impact of energy and climate policies, laws, rules and disclosures, as well as related goals and actions of companies in our industry, including actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas, any deterioration of or increased uncertainty in the political or regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies and the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets; the pace of the development and adoption of new technologies in the energy sector, including those designed to support governmental and private party energy and climate goals, and our ability to efficiently incorporate them into our business; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, acts of terrorism, information system outages or other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of harmful materials, cause fires or subject us to liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms, may be disputed or not covered by insurers, or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the availability of natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on capital projects, regulatory approvals and the execution of our operations; changes in tax and trade policies, laws and regulations, including tariffs, revisions to international trade agreements and sanctions, such as those that have been imposed and that may be imposed in the future in connection with the war in Ukraine, which may increase our costs, reduce our competitiveness, impact our ability to do business with certain counterparties, or impair our ability to resolve trade disputes; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that the company has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.
Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Texas, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Texas, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC.
