The California Public Utilities Commission on Nov. 7 recommended that five once-through-cooling natural gas power plants remain on line for up to three years beyond their planned retirement date of Dec. 31, 2020. The commission also approved delaying by up to 2.5 years the start dates of thr…
Community choice aggregators have a "significant task" in meeting renewables portfolio standard procurement shortfalls for 2020, a key state legislator said Nov. 6. But CCAs questioned whether the projected shortfalls are accurate.
The California Public Utilities Commission on Nov. 7 approved about $54 million in funding to build hundreds of new electric-vehicle charging stations at schools, parks and beaches across the state.
A draft California Energy Commission report seeks to answer some of the questions that have been posed about the potential cost, energy-infrastructure and air-quality implications of meeting state climate goals by decreasing natural gas consumption statewide.
Pacific Gas & Electric bondholders that are pitching a competing reorganization plan for the company in bankruptcy court are attempting to become parties in several PG&E-related proceedings at the California Public Utilities Commission—a move that utility attorneys have strongly crit…
State energy regulators are considering peak demand challenges associated with California's policy to significantly increase renewable and zero-carbon electricity generation resources over the next 25 years.
Attorneys for the cities of San Francisco and San Jose asked the California Public Utilities Commission at an Oct. 23 prehearing conference to remain open to alternate options for reorganizing Pacific Gas & Electric—including the possibility of municipalization.
The California Public Utilities Commission at its Oct. 24 meeting approved a monthly charge on utility customers to support the state's new $21-billion wildfire insurance fund.
The California Air Resources Board will eliminate rebates for certain luxury electric vehicles and reduce rebates for all other eligible vehicle types in its clean-transportation program.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Oct. 17 denied the California State Water Resources Control Board's request for rehearing of an earlier FERC decision regarding recertification of the Middle Fork American River Hydroelectric Project.
Pacific Gas & Electric defended its decision to cut off power to about 800,000 customer accounts last week, saying it later found more than 100 incidents of hazards or damage to its infrastructure that could have caused wildfires.
Attorneys for Pacific Gas & Electric strongly criticized a competing bankruptcy reorganization plan for the company pitched last month by its bondholders and a committee of wildfire victims, saying in an Oct. 11 filing to the California Public Utilities Commission that the proposal is "b…
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station cleared a major hurdle on the path to its decommissioning with the Oct. 17 approval by the California Coastal Commission of Southern California Edison's coastal development permit.
Federal energy regulators upheld California's wholesale electricity market design, for the second time rejecting a complaint by generation interests saying that state planning unfairly prioritizes renewables.
The California Air Resources Board on Oct. 17 announced a new renewables portfolio standard enforcement policy that would apply to the state's publicly owned utilities.
The California Energy Commission at its meeting on Oct. 14 approved a $5.4-million grant to install a new solar power plant at a large cheese-production factory in Tulare. The plant is expected to reduce the factory's natural gas output and greenhouse gas emissions, the CEC said in its grant…
A California Public Utilities Commission proposal for a new nonbypassable charge on utility customers that would feed into the state's wildfire insurance fund was widely panned by ratepayer advocates and other parties at an Oct. 10 meeting.
California energy regulators on Oct. 10 approved new rules for energy imports used to meet resource-adequacy requirements, meant to ensure imports are available at critical times such as when solar energy is diminishing on the grid.
Pacific Gas & Electric on Oct. 3 filed a proposed $65-million settlement with utility regulators over its 2018 locate-and-mark investigation.
The California Public Utilities Commission at its Oct. 10 meeting unanimously approved the sale of two small Pacific Gas & Electric hydroelectric projects to new owners.
San Diego Gas & Electric's program to increase electric-vehicle charging during off-peak hours has been a success so far, the company said in a semiannual report.
Energy experts and state regulators at an Oct. 9 research workshop considered a paradox that could be emerging in California's battle against climate change and wildfires: how public-safety power shut-offs to prevent wildfires affect climate goals.
Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison raised sharp objections to a proposal that would establish a central procurement entity to handle the state's resource-adequacy requirements, saying in Sept. 30 filings to the California Public Utilities Commission that the plan is un…
A protracted transfer of a hydroelectric project from Pacific Gas & Electric to the Nevada Irrigation District moved closer to happening with the release of a California Public Utilities Commission proposed decision Sept. 30.
Energy agencies are hearing more requests to determine what will and will not count as a "zero-carbon energy resource" under one of the state's most pressing carbon-reduction measures, SB 100.
Offshore wind energy is gaining momentum in California and could bite into the solar and battery storage industries' market share in the coming decades, experts say. But at an Oct. 3 joint-agency public workshop at the California Public Utilities Commission, a CPUC staff member questioned wh…
Federal energy regulators approved an expansion of the California Independent System Operator's reliability must-run program, with one Democrat dissenting over what he said was a "carte blanche" for CAISO to enter into out-of-market contracts with generation resources without review.
New bidding rules for hydro resources in the Western Energy Imbalance Market will take effect this month, after federal energy regulators partially approved a proposal by the California Independent System Operator.
The California Public Utilities Commission at its Sept. 26 meeting kicked off the process of reviewing Pacific Gas & Electric's eventual reorganization plan.
The California Public Utilities Commission on Sept. 26 approved a decision on San Diego Gas & Electric's and Southern California Gas Co.'s general rate cases, adopting 2019 revenue requirements of $1.99 billion and $2.77 billion, respectively, for the utilities [A17-10-007, A17-10-008, D…
San Diego Gas & Electric is proposing to eliminate its seasonal electricity retail rates that currently increase in the summer and decrease in the winter.
California energy regulators are continuing through the state's uncharted greenhouse gas emissions-reduction labyrinth and have now encountered a less predictable and more politically sensitive wall: utility-caused wildfires.
The California Public Utilities Commission on Sept. 12 proposed a delay in once-through-cooling compliance deadlines for natural gas-fired power plants to address what could be a capacity deficit of up to 2.5 GW in 2021-2023, and said there is a need for additional energy procurement by load…
County and city governments are urging the California Public Utilities Commission to consider how shutting down electric transmission lines during times of high wildfire risk would affect communities on the ground.
Utilities are ramping up efforts to trim vegetation and inspect their power lines in preparation for the height of the 2019 fire season, but California regulators are facing a separate challenge—the lack of qualified evaluators to ensure electric corporations are complying with their wildfir…
The California Public Utilities Commission's Office of the Safety Advocate is dropping out of settlement discussions between Pacific Gas & Electric and another CPUC safety department—the Safety and Enforcement Division. The settlement talks are happening in a critical investigation that …
A sense of urgency filled the room at the California Independent System Operator's headquarters in Folsom on Sept. 18, as officials warned of extremely tight generation capacity beginning next year.
The California Air Resources Board on Sept. 19 approved a controversial new standard intended to protect tropical forests across the world from deforestation, with more than 100 people lining up at a meeting in Sacramento to express both loud support and blunt disapproval of the new rule in …
The California Energy Commission is planning to award $12 million in funding to low-carbon fuel production projects in an effort to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from the state's biggest contributor: its transportation sector.
The California Public Utilities Commission held its first meeting chaired by new President Marybel Batjer on Sept. 12 in Los Angeles, approving a series of decisions related to Pacific Gas & Electric's gas system, the Self-Generation Incentive Program and other items.
The California Energy Commission is considering an exemption for a real estate investment trust to install 54 large diesel-fired generators at a data center in Silicon Valley—one of a number of such proposals that cite impending possible power shut-offs.
California lawmakers passed legislation that would require more detailed reporting of the chemical composition of materials emitted from natural gas storage facilities, aimed at Southern California Gas Co.'s Aliso Canyon facility near Los Angeles.
Emissions from California's transportation sector increased 6 percent from 2013 to 2017 (or 9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent), while overall emissions in the state decreased by 5 MMTCO2-e from 2016 to 2017, according to the California Air Resources Board's latest emissions report.
A new settlement agreement among a large swath of California energy organizations that outlines a residual resource-adequacy "central buyer" structure was the product of a lengthy negotiation process, participants said.
California’s energy agencies on Sept. 5 moved forward with formalizing a plan to implement the renewables and zero-carbon goals set out in SB 100. But nuclear proponents allege that the plan could increase natural gas usage.
The California Independent System Operator filed with federal energy regulators its latest round of enhancements aimed at better integrating energy storage and distributed energy resources onto its grid.
California's resource-adequacy market is tight and is likely to continue contracting, according to a California Public Utilities Commission state-of-the-market report issued on Sept. 3.
Parties commenting on wildfire mitigation plans filed by California utilities asked for more data on how wildfires will be prevented, as well as details on planned power line de-energizations that have alarmed local elected officials.
The California Public Utilities Commission this month issued a proposed decision that would add customers in high-wildfire-threat areas to its Self-Generation Incentive Program's equity budget.
Developers of California’s nascent energy storage industry are lining up in opposition to a proposal by Southern California Edison to levy a distribution fee for charging, setting up a conflict at the heart of storage integration.
