CA Current

The governor declared a state of emergency in Modoc County Aug. 2 because a fire that began July 24 has burned thousands of acres and came too close for comfort to energy infrastructure.  On Aug. 2, a fire in the hills above Berkeley and Oakland threatened Pacific Gas & Electric transmission lines. The governor’s emergency […]

Aging infrastructure was on display July 8 when a high-voltage transformer used at a transmission line receiving station exploded and burst into flames in Los Angeles in the early evening. It triggered a power outage for 140,000 households and businesses. The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power station, built during the 1950s, is used […]

Editor’s Note: this article was updated June 29. The City of San Juan Capistrano filed suit against the California Public Utilities Commission for approving San Diego Gas & Electric’s South Orange County transmission upgrade project last December. The city claims the project, which would add $400 million to the ratebase, is not needed for reliability […]

A trade complaint filed by bankrupt photovoltaic cell manufacturer Suniva is being officially investigated by the International Trade Commission. It could recommend that President Trump levy tariffs as early as this fall. Suniva, which is based in Georgia but largely is owned by Chinese interests, is advocating that a duty of 40 cents per watt […]

The Trump Administration’s proposed 2018 federal budget, released May 23, puts a for sale sign on federally-owned power lines in the West. However, selling the transmission assets of the Western Area Power Administration, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the Southwestern Power Administration will face major resistance from federal lawmakers from the West and Northwest. Carl […]

The California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved moving to revise its rules on the undergrounding of utility electric wires, including how undergrounding projects are chosen and who pays. The rulemaking approved May 11 is aimed at helping determine which underground projects are in the public interest, including how much to focus in urban, suburban, rural […]

The California Public Utilities Commission Feb. 9 gave the green light to Southern California Edison to build a major new substation in Monterey Park and upgrade associated transmission lines at total cost of $561 million. The project will replace the existing 220 kV Mesa substation with a new 500 kV substation and bolster connecting transmission […]

As President Donald Trump packs his cabinet with those determined to jump start the coal industry, a battle of billionaires largely under the news radar is shaping up that could be good for California, particularly under a regionalized grid In final actions, Obama’s Interior Department and the Western Area Power Administration last week approved a […]

Wind energy could provide more than 35 percent of the nation’s electricity in 2050 with the development of four specific transmission expansions estimated to cost $10.1 billion, according to a new report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “Absent significant upgrades to the western transmission network, we find that a substantial amount of renewable energy […]

Editor’ Note:  With this issue we are launching our Trump Watch, which covers moves and actions by the incoming administration that threaten or clash with California’s years of policies, rules and laws to move its electricity sector away from fossil fuels.   That California’s climate protection and alternative energy policies clash with the incoming Trump […]

In their final meeting of the year and the last one for outgoing commissioners Mike Florio and Catherine Sandoval, state energy regulators approved Pacific Gas & Electric’s hefty but scaled back pilot electric vehicle charging program. At a cost to ratepayers of $130 million, it is the most expensive and largest of the three private […]

The Interior Department Dec. 13 approved two major transmission projects that could play a big role in any integrated western grid and help California access out-of-state renewable energy—including wind power from Wyoming—to meet its 2030 renewable energy goal. The approvals were coupled with a memorandum of understanding between the federal department and California to streamline […]

  California has no grand vision for increasing the amount of distributed energy resources used to meet its energy needs, according to a key state utility regulator. Instead, it is “taking baby steps” by trying a number of approaches on a small scale to see what works. (more…)

The California Public Utilities Commission Oct. 13 approved on a 4-0 vote San Diego Gas & Electric’s $260 million Sycamore-Peñasquitos 230 kV transmission line project. It largely is to replace mostly wood structures between the existing Sycamore Canyon and Peñasquitos substations. (more…)

Here’s California Current’s 2015 rundown of the best and worst in the energy world directly and indirectly affecting California. (more…)

Tapping into the benefits of integrating electric vehicles into an evolving grid raises a host of technological challenges. Known and emerging challenges are the subject of ongoing research aimed at making the governor’s target of a million zero emission vehicles in California by 2020 a reality. (more…)

The Golden State has the highest renewable energy mandate and strictest climate protection law in the West. The fate of these and other ground-breaking low carbon statutes and rules, however, is an open question with the California Independent System Operator potentially morphing into a western-wide organization. (more…)

  Identifying the least environmentally harmful places to build renewable energy generating plants and transmission lines and interconnect them to the state grid is the ongoing focus of the California Energy Commission’s Second Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative (RETI). (more…)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nov. 16 slapped Pacific Gas & Electric with a violation for changing an earthquake testing methodology in 2013 without adequate justification. “This violation is of very low safety-significance and does not challenge the seismic safety of the facility,” said Blair Jones, PG&E spokesperson. He said the utility has subsequently provided additional […]

With California’s latest legislation to clamp down further on greenhouse gas emissions signed into law, we see increasing movement toward creating a western-wide grid authority and regional wholesale market. (more…)