CA Current

Eight community energy organizations have joined forces to purchase clean power in an effort to lower costs through economies of scale. Realized savings would in turn be viewed favorably by credit rating agencies, potentially further improving community aggregators’ bottom lines. Several northern and central coast aggregators representing 6.6 million people and 32,600 GW hours of […]

More than one third of California’s electricity last year was fueled by solar, wind and other qualifying renewables under the state’s clean energy mandate. According to the California Energy Commission, 36% of retail electric sales were supplied by renewable resources, exceeding the 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard’s 2020 mandate. “As we move to 100% clean electricity […]

Legislation that would impose fines on utilities for unreasonable power outages and require them to compensate businesses and other customers harmed by blackouts passed the Senate Energy Utilities & Communication Committee Jan. 15. Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) authored SB 378 because private utility “financial incentives err on the side of blackouts.” Weiner accused utilities […]

Before lawmakers this session is Senate legislation to make buildings more fire resistant in high risk areas, protect customers during utility power shutoffs, and rework the renewables mandate. A few of these bills will be heard Jan. 15 in the Senate Energy, Utilities & Communication Committee’s first hearing of the year. Three bills seek to […]

The California Energy Commission Oct. 14 signed off on the integrated resources plans for the San Francisco Public Utility Commission’s Hetch Hetchy power system, as well as for the Modesto Irrigation District. “Each is consistent with the requirements of SB 350,” Paul Deaver, CEC program manager, told commissioners at this week’s business meeting. The San […]

State energy officials began airing their proposal to reach 100 percent emissions-free electricity by 2045 this week, starting with a workshop on the upcoming blueprint in the Central Valley. Turlock Irrigation District Assistant General Manager Brad Koehn told state officials his public power agency is concerned about the affordability of meeting California’s ambitious energy goals, […]

Updated June 6. East Bay Community Energy inked a ten-year contract with Vistra Energy to receive resource adequacy capacity from a 20-MW/80-MWh battery energy storage project that will allow the 165 MW fuel oil-fired Oakland Power Plant to close.  The contract is part of the Oakland Clean Energy Initiative, a plan developed earlier to replace […]

The House Energy & Commerce Committee this week began work on advancing the “LIFT America Act,” which calls for spending $33 billion on clean energy programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions and modernize the nation’s energy infrastructure. “All of these investments will help us take an important step in combating the climate crisis, while also […]

The Turlock Irrigation District in the Central Valley plans to join the Western Energy Imbalance market in 2021. It signed an agreement to become part of the California Independent System Operators’ real time market, the grid operator announced May 14. “TID’s participation in the energy imbalance market will lead to a greater utilization of our […]

A state Senate committee April 24 voted to let the Turlock and Modesto Irrigation Districts meet their renewable portfolio standard requirements with power generated by the 203 MW Don Pedro Hydropower Project on the Tuolumne River. Today, power from such large dams is not considered eligible as a renewable resource. The panel also backed bills […]

Legislation tweaking energy rules and policies, including setting deenergization protocols and prohibiting utilities from using ratepayer funds to deter workers from unionizing, passed out of the Assembly Utilities & Energy Committee April 3. AB 868 by Assemblymember Frank Bigelow (R-Placerville) requires that private and public utilities develop criteria specifying when and how they will stop […]

The big squeeze from a duo of powerful hedge funds leads Sempra Energy to sell off all of its green portfolio and some of its gas assets. More significantly, this is just the first round of spin offs. A proposed CPUC settlement would reduce ratepayers’ share of the closure costs of San Onofre Nuclear Generating […]

An Australian company is planning to develop up to 744 MW of geothermal energy at the Salton Sea, starting with a 280 MW plant. (more…)