| Independently Powered Energy News

Updated Feb. 3

California has done more than any other state to advance vehicle electrification, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.

“It is the only state to set deadlines for electrifying transit buses, heavy-duty trucks, and commercial vehicles, and to adopt statewide building codes for wiring most types of new buildings and houses for EV charging,” the ACEEE’s new EV scorecard released Feb. 3 concludes.

The next best states as far as promoting EVs are New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington, Vermont, Colorado, Oregon, and New Jersey, along with the District of Columbia.

California along with New York was held up as being among the few states striving for equitable access to electrified transportation. “They are creating targeted programs for low-income, economically distressed, and environmental justice communities.”

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Pacific Gas & Electric is selling the exclusive right to hang wireless equipment from its more than 700 transmission towers and poles at a price close to one billion dollars. The buyer is a subsidiary of wireless infrastructure company SBA communications, which specializes in such deals.

The agreement will be for 100 years.

Under the deal, the utility retains the right to rule out or terminate the arrangement on a particular tower for regulatory or operational reasons, with compensation to SBA, according to a PG&E Securities & Exchange Commission filing made Feb. 2.

SBA also may sublease the right to attach cell phone equipment on another 28,000 PG&E transmission towers for 15 years. The utility and SBA will split the resulting revenue.

Utility poles overloaded with carrier equipment have previously caused them to fail, sparking fires and causing blackouts. In 2013, the California Public Utilities Commission approved a $51.5 million settlement with Southern California Edison and NextG Networks over three overloaded poles that toppled in strong winds, igniting the 2007 Malibu Fire. The blaze burned more than 4,500 acres. In 2011, high winds knocked down overloaded SCE poles, blacking out 440,000 customers, according to the CPUC.

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The California grid operator’s growing western Energy Imbalance Market produced close to $69 million in gross value for its participants in the final quarter of 2020. Since its launch in 2014, it has created $1.18 billion in total benefits, including by providing a market for electricity that would have been curtailed, the California Independent System Operator announced Jan. 29.

The 11 participants in this real-time market avoided curtailing 39,956 megawatt hours in renewables last quarter. Over seven years, they have traded 1.3 GWh of renewable energy that would have been wasted. There is a major climate benefit as well; the sales meant about 586,553 metric tons of avoided carbon dioxide emissions.

PacifiCorp reaped the most EIM benefits in the fourth quarter, at $10.9 million. Next in line was the Salt River Project, with $10.51 million in gross benefits. CAISO made $7.54 million, at fourth place after Arizona Public Service, at $8.7 million.

As CAISO was reporting on the growth of this market, Southwestern utility El Paso Electric announced it will join the EIM in 2023. El Paso serves 441,200 retail and wholesale customers in a 10,000-square mile area of the Rio Grande Valley in west Texas and southern New Mexico .

“El Paso’s entry into the EIM will improve efficiencies for their customers while strengthening and expanding the geographical scope of our market,” Elliot Mainzer, CAISO’s president and CEO said.

CAISO is working to expand the EIM into the far larger day-ahead market.

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The long saga to remove four dams on the Klamath River to free 400 miles of waterway is close to resolution.

The nonprofit in charge of the removal of the dams straddling California and Oregon, the Klamath Restoration Renewal Corp., announced Jan. 29 it has hired restoration contractor Resource Environmental Solutions to do the work.

Their agreement “finalizes habitat restoration, maintenance, and liability transfer responsibilities for a fixed price, opening the door to a successful restoration of native vegetation and anadromous fish habitat along the historical, pre-dam path of the Klamath River,” according to a statement by RES and Klamath Restoration Corp.

After the four concrete dams with 136 MW of capacity are taken down, thousands of acres will have to be restored to recover declining fish populations, which were critical sustenance to many tribes.

Mark Bransom, Klamath River Renewal CEO, pointed out the restoration includes planting native vegetation and stabilizing soils to ensure tributary connectivity and invasive species control.

A long-fought deal with PacifiCorp, the dam owner, the states of California and Oregon, Tribes and environmentalists was nearly undone by federal regulators’ decision last July. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission required PacifiCorp to remain as a co-licensee with the Klamath Restoration Corp. The company objected because it wanted to limit its liability for the dams and their damage. In November, California and Oregon agreed to take PacifiCorp's place as co-licensees.