CA Current

Pacific Gas & Electric is going to underground a whopping 10,000 miles of power lines in risky fire territory. It made the announcement several days after informing state regulators it may have ignited the Dixie Wildfire in Butte and Plumas counties, which continues to spread. The price tag will be hefty but putting underground lines […]

As the Dixie wildfire in Butte and Plumas counties linked to a tree falling on a remote Pacific Gas & Electric circuit continued to spread, PG&E announced it was taking the unprecedented step of undergrounding 10,000 miles of power lines in high fire danger areas. It estimates the cost at roughly $15-20 billion. It could […]

Going gang busters on clean, distributed energy will go a long way towards lowering utility bills as California works towards a decarbonized grid. In addition, energy efficiency further increases the savings in and outside the state. Those are findings in two studies released July 22. Adding rooftop and community solar and solar-plus-storage over the next […]

Under recently approved market changes, the California Independent System Operator seeks to double down to protect reliability in the states of the Western Interconnection it serves while guarding the transition to growing levels of variable and distributed renewables. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved CAISO’s interim market mechanisms in late June to allow more efficient […]

Pacific Gas & Electric told state regulators July 18 that its equipment may have sparked another massive wildfire, this time the ongoing Dixie Fire in the remote Feather River Canyon in Butte and Plumas counties. It started early last week, has burned 60,000 acres, and was only 15% contained as of Tuesday, according to CalFire. […]

Two community energy organizations in northern California have gone in together on 732 MW of long-term renewables, including new solar-plus-storage projects, set to come online between 2022 and 2024. Central Coast Community Energy (CCCE) and Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) signed joint contracts ranging from 10 to 20 years. They include 66 MW of wind […]

The California Public Utilities Commission voted without discussion to extend by several months the date by which PacifiCorp must file its plan detailing the retirement of coal plants serving 45,000 California ratepayers. PacifiCorp is a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. At the same July 15 meeting, the CPUC approved waiving a utility standby capacity […]

A divided California Public Utilities Commission green lights a $240 million utility electric vehicle charging program to help get the state closer to its 1 million-plus charger target. Two commissioners object, including because they didn’t have time to analyze the newly revised decision that earlier had been pulled off the Thursday agenda. Utility regulators unanimously okay […]

On a rare split vote, state utility regulators narrowly approved expediting the three investor-owned utilities ability to spend more ratepayer money on electric transportation infrastructure, this time a total $240 million to ensure there are enough chargers to alleviate the concerns of would-be EV drivers. The state is falling well short of its 2030 goal […]

Western utility company PacifiCorp’s extrication from its ownership of four hydropower dams on the Klamath River is nearly final with an okay by the California Public Utilities Commission to transfer title to a non-profit that will handle the long-planned demolition. Source: Karuk Tribe Commission approval marks its final involvement in the transfer of ownership, allowing […]

Four natural gas utilities’ attempt to get a piece of the innovative clean energy transition in the form of a $32 million reimbursement for blending small amounts of renewal hydrogen into their pipelines got a thumb’s down from the California Public Utility Commission July 15. SoCalGas, San Diego Gas & Electric, Pacific Gas & Electric and […]

Home electrification will raise electric bills and create a serious financial burden unless rooftop solar and energy efficiency are part of the electrification package, California Energy Commission staff and non-profit finance experts said during a July 12 CEC workshop. Installing solar is necessary even where the retrofit includes energy efficiency measures, recent research has found. […]

Updated July 15 Source: Climatechangedispatch.com The worsening Bootleg wildfire in southern Oregon shut off 5,500 MW of power imports from the Northwest, requiring the California grid operator and utilities to call for conservation across the state to protect the grid Friday through Monday. But the California Independent System Operator, which manages the California Oregon Intertie […]

Energy storage and electric vehicle chargers would become eligible for zero- and low-interest loans under legislation passed out of the Senate Energy Utilities and Communications Committee July 12. The bill expands an existing program run by the California Energy Commission to fund public entities’ energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Two other bills also got […]

The push to building electrification to slash greenhouse gas emissions is raising concerns that the shrinking base of gas customers will be unfairly burdened with higher utility bills. The issue is the focus of a new U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business paper. Some question why gas utilities aren’t treated like telecom companies, many of […]

The move to decarbonize buildings is prompting questions about how gas utilities and their customers will fare in an increasingly electric landscape. Turns out, their fates may diverge. U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business Professor Lucas Davis and Associate Professor Catherine Hausman from the University of Michigan found that when the customer base of a […]

A U.S. district court dismissed a lawsuit by the California Restaurant Association challenging the City of Berkeley’s ordinance banning natural gas use in new construction. The plaintiffs said the ban tread on exclusive federal turf. Berkeley’s gas ban is the first of its kind in California. The District Court for the Northern District of California […]

A 100 MW battery project opened in place of NRG’s proposed 262 MW natural gas-fueled Puente power project near Oxnard in Ventura County. The 400 MWh storage project, which will supply power for up to four hours, is under a 20-year contract with Southern California Edison. It is the second largest battery project in California. […]

Legislation to kick-start offshore wind development in California and fund new low-emissions biomass generating facilities passed the Senate Energy, Communications & Utilities Committee July 5. AB 525 by Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco), approved on a 13-0 vote, aims to launch an offshore wind industry in California by directing the California Energy Commission to develop […]

A flex alert was called for the afternoon of July 9 in the face of another round of intense heat. “As a result of higher load, and supply forecasted to be tighter than expected on Friday, consumers are asked to voluntarily conserve electricity from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.,” the California Independent System Operator announced […]