The Arizona Corporation Commission at its Sept. 22 meeting extended Arizona's suspension on electric and natural gas utility disconnections due to nonpayment through Dec. 31 for investor-owned utilities. The moratorium had been scheduled to end Oct. 15, but data indicates that tens of thousa…
Battery and fuel-cell electric truck manufacturer Nikola Motor Co. of Phoenix on Sept. 20 announced that founder Trevor Milton voluntarily stepped down as executive chairman of the publicly traded company's board of directors. Stephen Girsky, former vice chairman of General Motors, was immed…
Southern California Edison's equipment is being examined in relation to the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest, which was first reported on Sunday, Sept. 6, at 12:21 p.m., the utility said.
PG&E Corp. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jason Wells left his position Sept. 14 to become CFO of another utility, the company said. His resignation does not involve any disagreement on any matter related to PG&E Corp.'s operations, policies or practices, PG&…
A Sept. 6 fire at a Southern California generation plant contributed to a loss of energy available to the California Independent System Operator at a critical juncture during the recent heat wave.
Rachel Peterson is the new acting executive director at the California Public Utilities Commission, replacing Alice Stebbins, who says she will sue the commission over her dismissal (see CEM No. 1606). Peterson joined the CPUC in 2011 and most recently served as deputy executive director for…
The California Climate Investments program spent about $1 billion on greenhouse gas-reduction projects in the first six-month period of this year, up from about $914 million in the first six-month period of 2019, the California Air Resources Board said in a news release this week.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District announced that Paul Lau will succeed Arlen Orchard as its CEO and general manager effective Oct. 3. Lau has been chief grid strategy and operations officer for SMUD since 2015 and originally joined the municipal utility in 1982 as an electrical engin…
As more than 1 million acres in Northern California continue to burn due to what the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is calling a "lightning siege," a controversial bill is moving through the state Legislature that would extend and expand a utility bill surcharge for fu…
Finite Carbon announced Aug. 24 that it is launching the web-based CORE Carbon platform in late 2020 that will allow landowners with 40 to 5,000 acres to see a real-time value assessment of how much income their forestland might generate in the voluntary carbon market. Once enrolled at no co…
The chemical makeup of energy storage batteries worldwide is moving from lithium-manganese-cobalt oxide to lithium-iron-phosphate, or LFP, which is poised to have a 30-percent global market share by 2030, up from 10 percent in 2015, according to Wood Mackenzie analysts. Batteries in conventi…
The California Independent System Operator late on Aug. 14 declared a Stage 3 Electrical Emergency due to high heat levels and increased electricity demand. The ISO said the emergency initiates rolling power outages throughout the state.
State legislation that would have required a minimum 2,500-foot setback distance for oil and natural gas-related activities from schools, playgrounds and public facilities where children are present failed after opposition by business groups, labor unions, city and county officials, and the …
U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) on Aug. 6 introduced legislation that would allocate $89 million in federal funds for the Navajo Electrification Demonstration Program. The NEDP was established in 2000 and authorized up to $15 million each year for five yea…
The Boulder, Colorado City Council on Aug. 4 discussed the first reading of a motion that would establish a franchise agreement with Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest investor-owned utility, after reaching an agreement in principle July 28. The franchise agreement would stipulate that Boulder …
Pacific Gas & Electric and Tesla on July 21 began constructing a 182.5-MW lithium-ion battery storage facility in Moss Landing that will be one of the largest such utility-owned systems in the world.
The Western Energy Imbalance Market has accrued almost $1 billion in benefits since its November 2014 launch, according to the California Independent System Operator's quarterly report. The total gross benefits to date are $998.69 million. In the second quarter alone, EIM participants gained…
A transportable solar-powered electric-vehicle charging station has landed outside San Luis Obispo's city hall, officials said July 22. The city bought the transportable EV charging unit from Envision Solar International, a San Diego-based company that produces and sells charging infrastruct…
Pacific Gas & Electric's electric transmission lines caused the October 2019 Kincade Fire in Sonoma County that burned nearly 78,000 acres, destroyed 374 structures and caused four non-life-threatening injuries, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said July 16.
California Resources Corporation, an oil and natural gas exploration and production company that owns the 550-MW Elk Hills Power Plant in Kern County, filed July 15 for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, according to a 294-page f…
Staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said July 7 it prepared a final environmental impact statement for the relicensing of the Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts' 168-MW Don Pedro Project No. 2299 and for licensing of the 4.7-MW La Grange Project No. 14581. The districts o…
Natural gas exploration and production company Aera Energy LLC announced June 23 that Christina Sistrunk, its president and CEO, is retiring effective Oct. 1. Sistrunk, who joined Aera in June 2015, serves on Gov. Gavin Newsom's Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery. Erik Bartsch, current…
Southern California Gas Co. and the University of California, Santa Barbara, announced June 18 that they had completed two joint energy-efficiency projects that will reduce the campus' energy use by roughly 24 percent, saving an estimated $66,000/year or roughly 66,000 therms/year. The proje…
Average weekday demand for electricity in California declined by more than 4 percent in late March and 9 percent in April compared with the same time last year, the California Energy Commission said in a new "Energy Insights" report. Residential energy usage by customers of the three investo…
East Bay Community Energy issued a request for proposals designed to result in a contract for portfolio and risk management and valuation software. Specifically, EBCE wants a tool or platform its staff can use and customize in order to support its power procurement and risk management. This …
Three people died in a helicopter crash near Fairfield on June 2 while working on a Pacific Gas & Electric power line.
8minute Solar Energy has closed a $225-million letter of credit it plans to use to post securities for both its power-purchase agreements and interconnection agreements for its 18-GW pipeline of solar and storage projects in California, Texas and the Southwest, the company said June 1. The l…
The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission on May 22 voted to approve a regulation requiring electric utilities and other entities to report greenhouse gas emissions data to the state agency.
The California Independent System Operator is raising components of its grid-management charge because of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying its tariff requires the action when the charge fails to recover sufficient revenue, as it has so far this year. Based on data through April, current forecas…
Energy company SGH2 on May 20 revealed plans to develop what will be the world’s largest waste-to-hydrogen plant in Lancaster, California. The plant will process 42,000 tons of recycled waste per year and produce up to 3.8 million kilograms of hydrogen per year, the company said in a news re…
S. David Freeman, who enjoyed a lengthy career in energy, passed away May 12 at the age of 94 following a heart attack.
Researchers have developed a novel self-assembling membrane designed to separate carbon dioxide from a mixture of gases, which could be applied to carbon capture and storage. The Newcastle University material uses a small amount of silver in a membrane. The silver is triggered to grow during…
Pacific Gas & Electric announced it will conduct an islanding test May 9 that will help Humboldt County continue to have power in the event of a public-safety power shut-off or other disruptions. PG&E will be examining the capability of the Humboldt Bay Generating Station to continue…
Tesla is seeing demand that far exceeds supply for its energy storage products, founder and CEO Elon Musk said during an April 29 first-quarter earnings conference call. The company deployed 260 MWh of storage during the quarter, a 14-percent year-over-year increase, while its solar deployme…
Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area issued revised health orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic to clarify that solar-photovoltaic, solar-thermal and storage installation can continue during the stay-at-home order, according to a news release from the California Solar and Storage Associ…
Pacific Gas & Electric on April 23 said it will host a series of county webinars to detail the progress of actions taken as part of its wildfire mitigation program. Any public-safety power shut-off events in 2020 "are expected to be smaller in scope, shorter in duration and smarter for c…
The California Independent System Operator released its flexible-capacity needs assessment for 2021, saying that its needs are affected by actual net load and three-hour ramps that are about four years ahead of the ISO's original estimates due to increasing rooftop solar.
The California Independent System Operator updated its schedule for development of its enhanced and extended day-ahead market initiatives, saying "new work conditions necessitate additional time for policy development and for stakeholders to provide feedback."
Pacific Gas & Electric on March 31 finalized the sale of its Narrows Hydroelectric Project to the Yuba County Water Agency. The 12-MW facility on the Yuba River in Nevada County is licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission through 2026 [P-1404]. The $507,500 sale also includes…
Clean Energy States Alliance on April 2 launched a new information-sharing initiative for states that have established 100-percent clean-energy goals. The 100% Clean Energy Collaborative will build on and supersede the Renewable Portfolio Standards Collaborative, a broad stakeholder informat…
Clean Power Alliance signed its first battery energy storage agreement April 9 with developer sPower for the full output of a 100-MW/400-MWh lithium-ion battery storage facility in Los Angeles County.
Aliso Viejo, California-based energy storage developer esVolta was selected to deliver a new 15-MW-capacity lithium-ion battery system to California Choice Energy Authority. The 15-MW/60-MWh Black Walnut facility, to be built in Santa Paula, California, is due to be in service by June 2022. …
The California Independent System Operator launched a new initiative that will allow random tests to set a proxy demand resource's effective flexible capacity.
North American electric grid operators are well prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to responses to a Level 2 alert issued by the national reliability organization. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation said the alert went to industry on March 10, with a March 20 resp…
Investor-owned utilities in California should take steps to implement a state order supporting the development of microgrids before the 2020 wildfire season, state regulators said.
The Tuolumne Utilities District and Pacific Gas & Electric are in exclusive negotiations to transfer the 2-MW Phoenix Hydroelectric Project [P-1061] from PG&E to TUD ownership, according to a March 10 announcement. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, TUD would acquire the Phoe…
A popular effort that last year brought together utility workers from around the nation to extend electric power to hundreds of Navajo Nation homes is another casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic, at least temporarily.
Federal energy regulators on March 17 once again rejected arguments by the California Public Utilities Commission and others that a 50-basis-point incentive adder on Pacific Gas & Electric's transmission rate for membership in an independent system operator is not just and reasonable. Th…
A new test has proved that large, utility-scale wind power plants can provide important services that are currently supplied by conventional thermal generators, the California Independent System Operator said.
The Intermountain Power Agency on March 10 awarded Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems a contract for two power trains for the Intermountain Power Plant in Delta, Utah. The power trains are being specifically designed to allow the plant to make the transition from coal to natural gas, then from…
