CA Current

Nearly a dozen energy bills, from promoting renewable energy innovation to increasing grid cybersecurity, were presented to a U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee subcommittee Nov. 6. A key focus of the package is beefing up energy technology innovation to “lower emissions and maintain a modern economy,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). “Advancing non-polluting […]

The U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Sept. 25 forwarded to the U.S. Senate legislation focused on energy storage, energy efficiency, and industrial emissions reductions. The measures “can serve as the bipartisan pillars of a robust energy package centered on innovation and efficiency,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AL), Committee chair. Among the measures advanced […]

Trump’s claim that California’s Clean Air Act waiver is preempted by federal law drives state air regulators to look at other ways to slash climate pollution from the transportation sector. Two Republican federal energy regulators approve a proposal to alter the 40-year old law protecting small renewable projects and co-generation. The dissenting Democratic commissioner says […]

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration yanked California’s ability to set vehicle emission standards tighter than federal ones, as promised. The Sept. 18 revocation of the state’s waiver authority under the federal Clean Air Act also undermines California’s zero emissions vehicle program, further undermining its climate protection work. Mary […]

Two of the three federal energy regulators Sept. 19 voted out a proposed rulemaking to change the federal law protecting small renewable projects and cogeneration facilities. The dissenting commissioner warned the move would gut the 1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to reform the law is […]

How to drive down industrial greenhouse gas emissions to reach a 100 percent clean energy economy by 2050 was the daunting task debated at a Sept. 18 House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. “Transforming our economy to one that is 100 percent clean will be tough and will take significant resources and ingenuity, but it […]

A 40 year-old law that requires utilities to buy power from renewable generators and co-generators should be waived in states with competitive solicitation requirements and other measures that ensure all technologies access to the power market. That’s the recommendation to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in a new white paper from the National Association of […]

Updated May 31. Utility regulators voted to shorten the timelines for correcting utility line and pole safety violations under California Public Utilities Commission General Order 95 Rule 18. Under the May 31 CPUC decision, the allowable time for correcting violations will be cut from 59 to 36 months. In addition, one class of minor violations […]

Federal energy regulators May 17 ordered Pacific Gas & Electric to reach a settlement with eight organizations that complained last year about the utility’s rates for transmitting power. At issue is more than $500 million of potential utility overcharges. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the order without comment as part of its consent calendar […]

The grid operator’s board adopted big time reforms to increase gas power plant generator revenues and curb speculation in the transmission congestion market. Pacific Gas & Electric was chastised for balking at complying with the CPUC’s order to sign contracts for biomass projects to help reduce the huge number of dead trees. Biomass got  a […]

Mariposa County will become the site of a small biomass-fed power plant that will add 2.4 MW of local generation capacity to the area and help facilitate removal of dead pine trees. The huge numbers of dead trees in the area create a fire hazard and threaten to fall into homes. The Commission also provided […]

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission appointee Richard Glick was sworn in Nov. 29. Glick, a Democrat, was senior policy advisor for the U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee minority members. He, along with Kevin McIntyre, a Republican and pending FERC chair, were vetted by that panel on Sept. 7. Both were confirmed by the Senate […]

The grid operator won a national award for demonstrating that solar plants equipped with smart inverters can provide a variety of grid reliability services. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners last week gave the California Independent System Operator, First Solar, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory the “Utility Industry Innovative Pilots or Demonstration Projects […]

The 40-year old federal law mandating that private utilities buy power from independent producers, which was once center stage, is back stage in California today. That’s largely because of the state’s renewables mandate and improved interconnection. Today, investor-owned utilities continue to purchase power from independent small renewable and cogeneration projects under state regulatory programs established […]

How to ensure both greenhouse gases and toxic air pollutants are reduced in struggling polluted communities was the focus of a Joint Legislative Climate Change Policies Committee hearing held July 5. The panel members seek “to understand what is happening, and what work needs to be done,” said chair Assemblymember Edward Garcia (D-Coachella). While overall […]

Valero Refinery is suing Pacific Gas & Electric for $75 million in damages for a May 5 power outage at its Benicia refinery. The June 30 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District Court of California charges PG&E with breach of contract and negligence for failing to provide uninterrupted power— primary and […]

SoCal Gas can get into the small-scale combined heat and power business under a decision approved by the California Public Utilities Commission Oct. 22 as long as plants it builds and operates on utility customer premises are shareholder funded and no bigger than 20 MW. (more…)

The California Public Utilities Commission June 11 unanimously approved tightening the greenhouse gas cap beginning in 2020 for combined heat and power projects under contract with the investor-owned utilities to 2.72 million metric tons a year. That is well below the 4.8 million metric tons/year approved as part of a complex cogeneration settlement in 2012. […]

A state Assembly panel backed contentious legislation April 13 to incentivize distributed generation by eliminating a portion of the fees paid to utilities for businesses that decide to produce their own power. (more…)

Analysis and Insights by Fereidoon P. Sioshansi, Ph.D., President, Menlo Energy Economics Solar vs. Non-solar Customers The answer is outside the proverbial box The power industry is undergoing significant change at an accelerated rate. This means that many of the concepts that traditionally made perfect sense, no longer do. Moving forward, many of the time-tested principles […]