| Independently Powered Energy News
Demand
Daily Energy Costs $100M in September
The September heat storm drove up the average daily energy costs for ratepayers in the California grid operators’ market to...
Bloom Energy Expands its Fuel Cell Factory to Enable 1GW+ of Production
Bloom Energy opened a mega fuel cell factory in the Bay Area last week in response to significant demand. The...
Extreme Events Force CA Leaders to Face “Necessary Evils” to Protect Grid
Growing concerns about California’s power system necessitates the recent extraordinary steps by legislators to safeguard reliability, a key member of...
Edison’s First Generation Battery Storing Wind Energy Put to Rest
Once the largest battery grid storage project, Southern California Edison’s 8 megawatt, 32 MW-hour pilot located at its large Tehachapi...
CAISO Board Focuses on Near Term Needs and Long Term Ambitions
The California grid operator is keeping close tabs on climate crisis-driven wildfires and outage uncertainties while looking down the road...
Calls to Conserve Electricity Thursday-Friday
The grid operator called on Californians to reduce their use of air conditioning and appliances Thursday and Friday during the...
Climate lawsuit, Solar market doubles
The U.S. Supreme Court June 14 declined to take up oil companies arguments challenging a California State Court that is...
Energy Commission: Standard EV Plugs and Charger Communications are Crucial
Electric vehicle chargers need a standard connector and common communication protocols to advance installations, according to a new report on...
Microgrid Near Yosemite Provides Power 24/7, Eliminates Line-Sparked Fire Risks
Pacific Gas & Electric has launched a new microgrid system powered by a solar array paired with batteries to provide...
House Hearing on Transmission Hits California Live Wires
Barriers to transmission needed for clean energy growth in California and across the country can be overcome, advocates told the...
Grid Operator Raises Its Extreme Summer Peak Estimate by 6%
The California Independent System Operator is “cautiously optimistic” that the grid will be more stable this summer than last because...
Faster Permits for Installing Vehicle Chargers Focus of Bill
Legislation to speed up plodding local permitting for home vehicle chargers and commercial charging stations to ensure 250,000 chargers are...
The Buzz
A week after a national report found that the City of Los Angeles could be powered fully by renewables by...
Will Controversial Aliso Canyon Gas Field Get a New Lease on Life?
Despite the state’s legal commitment to decarbonize the energy sector, staff at the California Public Utilities Commission have concluded the...
FERC Chair: Texas Outages a “Humanitarian Crisis,” Agency Opens Door to Enviro Justice
The massive days-long power outage caused by frigid weather across Texas and the Midwest, resulting in numerous deaths, is a...
More Fossil Power to Meet Summer 2021 Peak Demand Expected
In anticipation of high summer demand, including when the sun sets, the California Public Utilities Commission ordered investor-owned utilities to...
State Electricity Demand Projected to Remain Flat
In its latest forecast for the coming decade, the California Energy Commission projects statewide demand won’t return to 2019 levels...
Final Blackout Study Calls for More Reserves, Warns of Diablo & Pacific Line Risk
Details on the key causes of the mid-August blackouts are out, and consistent with an earlier analysis. They highlight market...
CPUC Orders Utilities to Line Up More Resources for Peak Summer Demand
To avoid rolling outages due to electricity supply shortages, state officials direct the three investor-owned utilities to line up additional...
Edison Reimagines California’s Distribution System
Distributed energy’s explosive growth makes integrating it in a way that supports the power system critical, according to a new...