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Pacific Gas & Electric has finalized a deal with a group of its bondholders, which had been competing for control of the bankrupt utility over the past year.
The challenges of integrating renewable energy and procuring power on a rapidly changing electricity grid were the topic of a panel discussion at the Solar, Storage and Smart Energy Expo in San Francisco on Jan. 17, with one representative of the California Independent System Operator saying…
The nature of California's community solar program, and the dearth of participation in the initiative since its creation a few years ago, were the topic of an at-times passionate debate at an event in San Francisco last week.
The State of California on Jan. 17 filed suit against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in federal court, disputing BLM's environmental review that would open more than a million acres of public land in Central California to oil and natural gas drilling—including hydraulic fracturing, or fr…
Pacific Gas & Electric has been granted eminent domain across a section of a privately owned Calistoga vineyard, which will allow the utility to install equipment it contends is needed to augment natural gas supplies during pipeline repairs and to address increasing customer demand.
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Pacific Gas & Electric is negotiating a new deal with its bondholders that would provide the group with cash and new debt, but only if it agrees to terminate its competing restructuring proposal.
Annual greenhouse gas emissions from California's electricity sector have declined about 40 percent over the past decade, but imports have been the biggest contributor to the reductions, according to a new report from the Legislative Analyst's Office.
The City of Berkeley filed a motion Jan. 13 to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the California Restaurant Association, stating that the court does not have jurisdiction and that the trade group failed to state a claim "upon which relief may be granted."
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Jan. 14 released the Central Valley Project Final Cost Allocation Study, ending years of uncertainty regarding the costs of both water and power for its users. The report will likely reshape obligations owed the federal government by agricultural, industrial…
Ormat Technologies Inc. signed 10-year power-purchase agreements with two California community choice aggregators for a new geothermal project to be constructed in Mammoth Lakes.
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U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali on Jan. 7 approved an order authorizing Pacific Gas & Electric to redact highly sensitive information from Tubbs Fire settlement documents and designate them "Professional Eyes Only."
A proposed new arena for the Los Angeles Clippers cleared a significant hurdle after a state environmental technical evaluation found the project will have net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
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The flip of the calendar to a new year brought to a close a turbulent 12 months in California energy that demonstrated more than ever the prominent nexus between utility regulation and the safety and welfare of the public. The 2019 chapter of the story didn't go so well for users of the grid…
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Pacific Gas & Electric's bondholders are offering an all-cash, $13.5-billion settlement package to California's wildfire victims in its bankruptcy case, a rebuttal to PG&E's current settlement with victims that includes $5.4 billion in cash, $6.75 billion in stock, and other deferred…
Although the growth of community choice aggregation throughout the state in 2019 was nothing less than explosive, formation is continuing apace in 2020, with more joint-power authorities and single-city CCAs expected.
A transformer caught fire at McCabe Unit 5 of The Geysers geothermal facility in Sonoma County late Dec. 21, but company officials have not identified a cause and said local media reports that fuel caught fire were incorrect.
After the first manual measurement of the Sierra Nevada snowpack for 2020, conducted Jan. 2, the California Department of Water Resources said the accumulation level is "good," but just below normal for this time of year.
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U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali at a hearing on Dec. 17 approved two large Pacific Gas & Electric proposed settlement agreements—one with wildfire victims for $13.5 billion and the other with insurance claim holders for $11 billion. The judge's approval decreases the chances that a …
Pacific Gas & Electric's $13.5-billion settlement with wildfire victims will require some victims to "accept stock in the company that ruined their lives," lawyers representing 284 Camp Fire victims told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali on Dec. 17.
Electric vehicles play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but they can also be leveraged by utilities to increase revenues, according to analysts with Wood Mackenzie.
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors denied a project that would have added up to 155 MW of wind generation to the grid and that also deeply divided the community.
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Pacific Gas & Electric has reached a $13.5-billion settlement agreement with lawyers representing wildfire victims, a group that had previously opposed the bankrupt utility's numerous settlement proposals.
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The total estimated cost to serve electric load in the California Independent System Operator dropped by 44 percent compared with the same period a year ago, to $2.5 billion, pushed by low and stable natural gas prices, lower electric loads and other factors, CAISO's market monitor said in a…
The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power plans to replace the last remaining coal-fired generation in its portfolio, the Intermountain Power Project in Utah, with a power plant that will run on a blend of 30 percent hydrogen and natural gas when it opens in 2025.
Glendale Water & Power is using battery storage to supplement its natural gas peaker unit and plans to continue supporting energy storage as a key part of its portfolio.
Shell Energy North America signed a power-purchase agreement for more generation from a Riverside County solar development.
Fuel loading at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station was not affected by a recent request from a watchdog group that filed a temporary injunction intended to again halt loading of spent fuel into dry-cask storage at the facility, a spokesman for Southern California Edison, the plant's o…
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Arguments in Pacific Gas & Electric's bankruptcy courtroom on Dec. 4 grew more pointed and desperate as the judge overseeing the utility's future wavered back on forth on PG&E's proposal that would provide $11 billion in cash to a group of insurance companies and subrogation claim ho…
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali on Nov. 27 denied Pacific Gas & Electric's request to not apply California's inverse-condemnation liability doctrine to the utility's role in the 2015, 2017 and 2018 Northern California wildfires. But Montali left the door open for PG&E to appeal …
The agency formerly known as the San Diego Regional Community Choice Energy Joint Powers Authority now has a more succinct name, thanks to community input.
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Utility wildfire legislation that was hurried through the state Legislature this summer, AB 1054, was the product of insider negotiations among Pacific Gas & Electric, Gov. Gavin Newsom, state regulators and others, a lawsuit underway in Northern California alleges.
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Following the lead of 18 California cities, municipal governments in Washington, Colorado and Massachusetts are working on building-electrification ordinances to move away from natural gas use.
The California Restaurant Association filed suit against the City of Berkeley in U.S District Court for enacting an ordinance that would ban natural gas in new buildings.
Pacific Gas & Electric has made it "impossible" to move forward with building a large battery energy storage project that the utility previously agreed to pull power from starting in 2020, according to the storage facility's developer, which said it is now forced to scuttle the project.
The MCE board at its Nov. 21 meeting approved $3 million in funding to support resiliency projects aimed at helping customers and communities in the four counties it serves.
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Pacific Gas & Electric lawyers on Nov. 19 asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali for a new approach to inverse condemnation, a legal-liability doctrine in California that significantly affects utilities' legal exposure to wildfires and other disasters.
U.S. District Judge James Donato on Nov. 18 told lawyers for Pacific Gas & Electric that they have been "unnecessarily" holding onto critical documents that are needed in order to estimate how much the investor-owned utility owes wildfire victims.
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The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power at its board meeting Nov. 19 told renewable-energy and climate activists it is considering replacing a Utah coal plant with one that runs on hydrogen rather than natural gas.
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A committee of unsecured creditors and Gov. Gavin Newsom are panning Pacific Gas & Electric's latest restructuring proposal that the utility filed earlier this month, with the committee calling it a "poison pill" that would not allow for competing restructuring proposals.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali on Nov. 12 approved a motion to extend the deadline for wildfire victims to file their claims against Pacific Gas & Electric from Oct. 21 to Dec. 31.
Nevada Irrigation District is offering to purchase Pacific Gas & Electric's electric distribution assets in NID's service area in order to correct "deferred maintenance immediately," the district said. But PG&E said it's not interested.
Electrifying buildings across the state could create more than 100,000 construction jobs and 4,900 manufacturing jobs annually for 25 years, as well as offset job losses within the natural gas industry, a new report says.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali on Nov. 4 approved Pacific Gas & Electric's request to delay two large contracts for renewable-energy projects in order to "benefit the utility's estate."
Pacific Gas & Electric must answer a series of questions about its late-October public-safety power shut-offs and maintenance of its equipment after a Nov. 4 order by the federal judge overseeing the utility's felony probation case.
Four Bay Area energy agencies on Nov. 5 issued a joint request for proposals designed to address the needs of economically and medically vulnerable residents, as well as enable the agencies to meet their resource-adequacy needs.
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California utilities were restoring power to hundreds of thousands of customer accounts Oct. 31, after another week of high winds, power outages and wildfires sent residents scrambling and led to a step-up in response efforts from state officials. Pacific Gas & Electric also disclosed it…
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Liabilities from the Kincade Fire could destabilize Pacific Gas & Electric's precarious financial condition, introduce a new group of creditors into its bankruptcy proceeding, violate its five-year criminal probation and lead to regulatory consequences, according to experts.
Lawyers for Pacific Gas & Electric at a court conference on Oct. 28 said the bankrupt utility supports a plan to extend the claims deadline for wildfire victims from Oct. 21 to a December date to be agreed upon by involved parties.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson moved closer to potentially issuing a gag order on representatives of wildfire victims and Pacific Gas & Electric in the Tubbs Fire jury trial that is scheduled to start Jan. 7. Also, a motion filed by victims' lawyers on Oct. 17 alleged th…
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Discussion of community choice energy and the formation of a joint-powers authority has long been on the agendas of government bodies throughout the greater San Diego area.
