The California Energy Commission has awarded $1.6 million to a consortium of Southern California-based organizations led by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) to establish a Southern California Center for Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicle Technology.

The center will consist of one virtual hub and two physical locations-one in San Diego, which will be managed by CCSE, and one in Los Angeles, which will be managed by the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator. The center will serve the counties of Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

"Our goal is to leverage assets to ensure that we're a leading developer, designer and producer of these lower-emission technologies to add the high-value jobs and wages as well as the tax revenues that will result from a thriving advanced transportation cluster," said Bill Allen, LAEDC president and CEO.

"Southern California already leads the state in the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles, but we are a long way from where we need to be to reach the state's ambitious goals for reducing petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions," said CCSE Executive Director Len Hering, RADM, USN (ret.). "These two new centers and the online component will help municipalities, government agencies and industry partners better focus and direct their efforts to grow the market for cleaner transportation throughout the region."

"This project will be a great asset for our region," said Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal, chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee. "Not only will they be developing alternative fuels and clean technology, they'll be creating jobs that will drive economic growth for years to come."

Additional partners receiving funding include the UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center and the Luskin Center for Innovation, Advanced Sustainability Institute, California State University-Los Angeles and the Inland Empire Economic Partnership. 

The California Energy Commission contract is scheduled to begin in June 2014. The project will also use $1.6 million in matching funds from advanced transportation industry leaders. For more information about the center, visit www.AdvancedTransportationCenter.org.