CA Current

PG&E Corp. suffered a larger loss in net income last year than in the previous year. However, its 4th quarter loss for 2019 was about half the size of its 2018 fourth quarter hit. In its latest earnings report, the parent company reported a loss of $7.7 billion, at minus $14.50 a share, for 2019. […]

The West Coast’s first LNG export project looks like its headed for federal approval. This week, however, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission votes 2-1 to tentatively disapprove the Coos Bay project because of Oregon’s recent permit rejection. A majority of the federal energy regulators also reject the New York grid operator’s capacity market revisions, undermining […]

The California Energy Commission approved a Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s community solar program. The Feb. 20 approval was based on the Energy Commission’s 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards, which allow community solar in place of PV roof tops on new single family homes. “We expected that the marketplace and stakeholders would find solutions appropriate for […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Feb. 20 tentatively voted 2-1 against approving what would be the first LNG project on the West Coast. Commissioner Bernard McNamee voted against the export project at Coos Bay in Oregon along with Commissioner Rich Glick. New information about the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas project was submitted by the […]

San Diego Gas & Electric’s new wildfire mitigation plan filed with state energy regulators comes with a price tag that’s about one third the cost of those of Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric.  The San Diego utility estimates that it will spend $1 billion to $1.5 billion from 2020 through 2022 to […]

The California Public Utilities Commission Feb. 18 opened an investigation into the impacts of Pacific Gas & Electric’s exit from federal bankruptcy court. It issued a broad appeal for public input on the utility plan to emerge from Chapter 11 protections. “It is essential we hear from all parties, including ratepayers, consumer advocates, local governments, […]

Community choice aggregators in Pacific Gas & Electric territory struggle with whether to accept nuclear energy from the utility’s Diablo power plant. This year is the first time PG&E has offered community choice entities a share of the nuke’s output, although they’ve paid for it every year since they were formed.   Local clean energy […]

The loaded issue of whether to accept a portion of Pacific Gas & Electric’s Diablo nuclear power plant output has led some community choice entities to reject the offer this year, even though they’re paying for it. That includes Marin Clean Energy and Sonoma Clean Power. Local clean energy advocates find it unacceptable to take […]

A new plan to address wildfires submitted by Southern California Edison asks state authorities for an additional $322 million to prevent utility line sparked fires over what it requested just three months ago in its general rate case. The total is $3.823 billion to mitigate blazes over three years. Edison submitted its 2020-2022 wildfire management […]

Aurora Solar is inching closer to building a 44 MW solar array with storage in the Antelope Valley between Twin Lakes and Rosamond. The project is slated for 383 acres of land in Kern County made up of former grazing and agriculture lands, Joshua Tree and Juniper woodland habitat. Of the 383 acres, 233 are […]

Pacific Gas & Electric offers its nuclear energy to community choice. But it is a hot potato, particularly for East Bay Clean Energy. Local green energy advocates give it a lot of heat for considering the matter. Bets are that extracting lithium from the steamy brine of geothermal plants in the mineral-rich Salton Sea will […]

East Bay Clean Energy and other community choice aggregators have touted themselves as being cleaner, greener and more customer-friendly than competitor Pacific Gas & Electric. But they’re facing a dilemma that could change that.  At issue is whether to take a predetermined amount of generation from PG&E’s greenhouse gas-free Diablo nuclear power plant this year, […]

The California Energy Commission took a deep dive into the potential for extracting lithium from geothermal plants along the Salton Sea during a Feb. 12 symposium at Stanford University. Removing lithium from the mineral rich and very hot brine in this region in Southern California is full of promise because it’s potentially a world-class source […]

Federal legislation to increase energy efficiency across various sectors and advance energy storage received wide support Feb. 12 from a House Energy & Commerce Committee subcommittee. Before the lawmakers were bipartisan bills to increase energy savings in the residential, industrial and commercial sectors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save consumers money and create jobs. Lawmakers […]

State legislation was introduced that would significantly reduce the size of investor-owned utilities political contributions to campaign coffers. AB 2079 by Assemblymember Kevin Kiley (R-Placer) would restrict contributions from Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric to $3,000 per political campaign under proposed revisions to the state’s Political Reform […]

SoCal Gas announced Feb. 11 that its customers saved $55.6 million in 2019 on their annual gas bills through utility energy efficiency programs. The reduced energy consumption avoided about 265,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking more than 57,000 cars off of California roads for one year, according to SoCal Gas. […]

In its 2020 fire protection plan, Pacific Gas & Electric proposes continuing to fund utility infrastructure wildfire resistance measures, vegetation clearance, inspections of thousands of miles of lines, and automation installations. The nearly 500-page plan submitted to state energy regulators Feb. 7 aims to reduce both the risk of utility-sparked fires and the impact of […]

The U.S Department of Justice halted its antitrust attack against the quartet of automakers that reached an agreement with California air regulators on greenhouse gas emission limits in new vehicle models. “With the shadow of this probe lifted, I look forward to more automakers joining this agreement and continuing the signal to the Administration that […]

The community-scale market segment has been plagued by ongoing policy neglect, and otherwise poor policy choices. Will policymakers heed the track record of demonstrated failure and finally create new programs that address previous problems? Ken Lund Flickr cc California, long a progressive leader on renewable energy and climate change mitigation, has neglected a key market […]

State energy regulators pay lip service to California’s mandate for the energy sector to be 100 percent clean and then approve the replacement of a 50-mile natural gas pipeline in San Diego. But, the Sempra utilities’ $677 million cost estimate for the project is to be examined. The House Energy & Commerce Committee takes aim […]