CA Current

The California Independent System Operator is charged with operating 80% of the state’s massive electric highway. The first board of this semi-public entity launched in May 1997. It had 25 directors, five of them women. It included a range of representatives, from private utilities, to independent generation companies, which thrived temporarily, to environmentalists. The first […]

By Feiridoon Sioshansi Solar projects, particularly the utility-scale variety, are now considered the cheapest way to generate power in California and many other parts of the U.S., according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s new report 2020 Utility-Scale Solar Data Update. It provides the latest trends in ground-mounted solar projects larger than 5 MWAC. It […]

Offshore wind projects could provide massive amounts of clean energy, allow the shutdown of polluting power plants in poor communities and create thousands of jobs, Jon Wellinghoff, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chair, said. Wellinghoff, who is now CEO of the consulting firm GridPolicy, spoke at an Oct. 27 FERC technical conference on offshore wind […]

In the presidential candidates’ final debate, President Trump said Vice President Biden’s energy plan could cost tens of millions of jobs. Wind is “extremely expensive” and solar “doesn’t quite have it yet,” he added. Trump avoided answering a question about the health impacts of polluting industries. There is “a moral obligation” to address the climate […]

Pacific Gas & Electric seeks a couple of billion dollars more from ratepayer pocketbooks for utility-sparked wildfires in 2017 and 2018. It also asks state regulators for the green light to put its long-time headquarters in San Francisco up for sale. It says it will give the gain to customers. In other news, the grid […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted 2-1 to require grid operators to eliminate market barriers to aggregated rooftop solar, storage, energy efficiency and other clean energy resources on the distribution system. Transmission operators must rework their tariffs within nine months of the new rule’s implementation to include aggregated distributed resources as market participants in a […]

Anticipation surrounds a multi-agency analysis of which power plants unexpectedly went offline and what failures may have precipitated the call for rolling power outages in California mid-August. Now the release of that analysis is delayed until October rather than later this month.  The California Independent System Operator, California Public Utilities Commission and California Energy Commission, […]

The grid operator board will vote later this month on a proposed change that would add flexibility in the amount of megawatts the California Independent System Operator can accept into its real-time market from co-located solar and storage facilities, and other mixed fuel projects.  The rule change, expected to go into effect in the fall, […]

Federal regulators May 21 declined to reexamine their approval of the permit for the controversial Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas project in Oregon. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also certified an LNG project on Alaska’s North Slope. The approvals come as global demand for the fossil fuel has fallen because of pandemic policies. Commissioner Rick […]

Triple digit temperatures in late summer across the West could stress the power grid because of lower hydropower imports from the Pacific Northwest, a May 15 report by California’s grid operator concludes. The California Independent System Operator estimates that with average summer temperatures supplies would meet demand, estimated at 45,907 MW in a 1-in-2 scenario. […]

Updated July 18. The California Energy Commission’s clean transportation program to date has provided $830 million in funding, with most of the money targeted at advancing the use of electric vehicles, according to a summary presented at a commission meeting on the program’s accomplishments July 18. In the clean vehicle infrastructure area, CEC has provided […]

The California Independent System Operator July 1 officially launched its reliability coordinator services for 16 balancing authorities. CAISO’s new “RC West” replaces Peak Reliability as the overseer of 15 Californian and one Mexican balancing authority. “We not only recognize the importance of this new role, but the confidence that these entities have placed in us,” […]

It is better late than never for Southern California Edison, which finally gets its 2018-2020 rate case approved. State energy regulators okay a revenue requirement for 2018 of nearly $5.2 billion. Over the three-year period, Edison will reap a 4 percent increase, not counting recovery of its wildfire safety costs. Utility regulators this week also […]

The grid operator’s newly approved budget for the coming year sets a revenue requirement of $193.5 million. It is 2 percent lower than the adopted requirement for 2018. At its final meeting of the year held Dec. 13, the California Independent System Operator’s board of governors also outlined goals for the coming year, particularly to […]

Updated Dec. 6. The U.S. Senate Dec. 6 confirmed Bernard McNamee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on a 50-49 vote. McNamee’s nomination was controversial because of the role he played while at the U.S. Department of Energy, specifically entailing its proposal that FERC order subsidies for coal and nuclear power plants. McNamee “needs to […]

California’s grid operator during its annual stakeholder symposium in Sacramento envisioned a future filled with super-efficient autonomous electric vehicles, commonplace energy storage systems, an integrated western grid, and the chance that energy technologies yet unimagined will emerge. Speakers at the two-day California Independent System Operator meeting Oct. 17 and 18 also discussed how a rapidly […]

Pacific Gas & Electric asked federal energy regulators for a 9.5 percent increase in transmission fees, which would mark an increase from a projected $1.79 billion this year to a $1.96 transmission revenue requirement for 2019. The proposed increase to PG&E’s 2019 transmission rate case, made in an Oct. 1 filing to the Federal Energy […]

In an early look at how much SB 100 will raise electricity rates, preliminary modeling in support of Pasadena Water & Power’s upcoming integrated resource plan suggests moving to 100 percent clean energy may not cost that much. The modeling, according to an advisor to the muni, suggests the average $100 a month residential power […]

The California Public Utilities Commission Sept. 27 postponed deciding how to levy exit charges for electricity customers who depart utilities and move to community choice aggregators or direct access providers. The commission now is slated to vote on the so-called power charge indifference adjustment Oct. 11. Utility regulators, did, however, adopt on a 4-1 vote […]

The grid operator this week advanced its 2018-19 transmission planning process during a meeting slated for Sept. 20 and 21 that focused heavily on reliability analyses for the various regions of the state’s electrical system. The assessments, said Jeff Billinton, California Independent System Operator manager of regional transmission – north, are based on the California […]