The first quarter earnings of Sempra Energy and Edison International fall with their utility affiliates keeping them in the black. Alisa Canyon payouts and foreign currency losses hurt its balance sheet but Sempra officials tout its utilities’ rising ratebases and the huge potential of its expanding LNG terminals.
Edison International’s net income gets drained by high preferred dividend payouts and Southern California Edison takes a hit from higher than expected wildfire claims. But its officials tout the financial promise of widespread electrification.
State utility regulators sign off on the decommissioning of what was once the largest battery storage project. SCE’s first-generation 32MWh lithium-ion pilot in the Tehachapis that stored wind power and sent it to the grid is formally closed, with the Office of Public Advocates’ blessing.
Pacific Gas & Electric announces plans for blending hydrogen in natural gas pipes and power plants. The proposal is a slight variation on a plan that has been in the works for a good while but little new light is shed.
California’s last operating nuclear power plant is back in the news following the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call to consider keeping Diablo online after the expiration of its operating license. This week’s Juice points out that is no easy feat because it would require a 20-year federal license, the undoing of a multiparty closure settlement, and undermine millions of dollars in payments already made to the local government on the Central Coast and PG&E plant workers.
Earnings of PG&E’s parent in the first quarter of this year were far above those of the previous year. PG&E Corp CEO Patti Poppe touts the company’s wildfire risk reduction measures, undergrounding, and the potential of electric vehicles to act as power plants.