One option to support grid reliability in the coming years is expanding natural gas-fired power plant capacity, while a portion of the state's planned battery energy storage buildout could be deferred to reduce costs, a report from California Public Utilities Commission staff said this month.

The California Public Utilities Commission on Oct. 20 ratified Pacific Gas & Electric's 2021 wildfire mitigation plan update after months of review and concerns.

Solar power generation continues to grow on California's electric grid, but solar's total market value has decreased over the past decade, according to a report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Energy experts in California are urging state officials to think twice about using a revised electricity supply and demand analysis to order more electricity procurement for summer 2022.

Electric-vehicle charging stations can take at least one year longer than they should to be installed in California, where they cost substantially more than in other states, charging-industry leaders told state officials at a workshop this week.

The California Energy Commission on Oct. 13 approved about $23 million in awards for zero-emission transportation projects in the state, including about $2 million to develop software that will improve electric school bus charging behavior.

A group of California agencies, led by the California Natural Resources Agency, on Oct. 11 released a draft of a new plan designed to mitigate the effects of climate change on the state.

The California Public Utilities Commission is delving into ongoing issues with utility customers' inability to fully pay their bills as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated government policies.

Water heaters should be moved closer to bathrooms, kitchens, and other "wet rooms" in new homes to save more than 1 million therms of natural gas per year, researchers told the California Energy Commission in a Sept. 30 report.

California Public Utilities Commission President Marybel Batjer is resigning after a rocky two years of grid-reliability issues, utility-caused wildfires and diesel-generation growth. She will leave the commission at the end of this year.

Electricity grid officials in California are requesting an increase in the state's planning reserve margin from 15 percent to at least 17.5 percent, but some utilities and community choice aggregators are opposing the request, saying it is too late to add new resources using an increased res…

The California Energy Commission on Sept. 30 ratified a $950,000 grant agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense to study whether new transmission infrastructure and wind turbines offshore of Northern California could interfere with the DOD’s military operations in the region.

The number of new hydrogen fueling stations in California is increasing, but pales in comparison to the number of new electric-vehicle charging stations popping up in the Golden State.

In the midst of a wildfire-riddled summer season, California remains at the forefront of domestic climate change, seeking both short-term and long-term solutions, some of which are based on increasing the use of hydrogen as a fuel source for transportation.

The California Public Utilities Commission is proposing to apply a heavy load of new and revised safety metrics to certain investor-owned utilities in the state after years of deadly wildfires and natural gas pipeline ruptures.

Energy officials in California this week approved new energy-efficiency goals that rely on customers changing their energy usage behaviors in addition to installing new equipment.

Schools in California pay a significantly higher price to install solar power systems than commercial site owners, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory determined in a report issued this month.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Sept. 15 granted a limited waiver request submitted by the California Independent System Operator to install two 30-MW modular natural gas-fired generators in Yuba City to help the state meet demand on hot days this summer and fall.

Pacific Gas & Electric's shareholders, its ratepayers, and victims of wildfires caused by its equipment have become "entangled" in an "Orwellian" world due to a $7.5-billion bond-financing deal that will cover portions of the utility's 2017 and 2018 wildfire costs, utility ratepayer advo…

California is learning a great deal about the challenges of electric-vehicle adoption among its disadvantaged populations as a study related to the state's Clean Transportation Program Investment Plan for 2021 to 2023 is two months away from being reviewed by the California Energy Commission.

San Diego Gas & Electric is projecting a 14-percent decrease in electricity sales to residential customers from 2019 to 2022, but residential customer rates could stay about the same due to decreased operational costs.

California's "tree-shaking" machines could have their diesel engines converted to hybrid compressed natural gas and electric engines, but orchard workers would need better access to natural gas refueling infrastructure, engineers told the California Energy Commission in a research report thi…

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to ban new oil wells and evaluate the status of existing ones with an eye toward phasing them out, drawing praise from environmentalists.

The U.S. Department of Energy granted a request by California's grid operator to issue an emergency order by Sept. 10 to preserve grid reliability, in a week during which calls to conserve electricity were issued in the Golden State, Nevada and Arizona.

California's electricity grid could be about 4,350 MW short of meeting demand next summer—a slight improvement over energy officials' recently forecast shortage of 5,200 MW.

The California Public Utilities Commission this week fined San Diego Gas & Electric $5.5 million and ordered it to refund $45.44 million to customers for "knowingly submitting inaccurate information" related to a lightbulb replacement program.

Natural gas utilities and advocates are turning to the courts in an effort to maintain a presence in California's building and transportation spheres as the state marches toward its zero-emissions target of 2045, although one legal effort was recently withdrawn.

A mounting number of motions to produce evidence, including appearances by witnesses, are miring the California Public Utilities Commission's investigation into a major gas leak at Southern California Gas Co.'s Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility about six years ago, based on a recent …

The California Public Utilities Commission is proposing to significantly increase the amount of biomethane that is mixed into the Golden State's natural gas pipeline system.

Southern California Gas Co. expects to install about 500,000 additional natural gas meters between now and 2035, while over those years, Pacific Gas & Electric will need a stable amount of natural gas-fired generation, utility representatives said at an Aug. 30 workshop. Both projections…

PG&E Corp. CEO Patti Poppe responded to a letter from California's top energy regulator, highlighting the company's focus on wildfire safety and promising an end to the costly and life-threatening blazes.

California's investor-owned utilities and community choice aggregators are striving to meet state targets for procuring goods and services from so-called diverse firms, but are hamstrung in procuring energy from these types of businesses because there are so few eligible companies with which…

Building decarbonization will increase the usage of potent global warming refrigerants and add to the state's peak load, two issues that officials are attempting to resolve as homes and business cap their methane pipes in favor of flowing electrons.

Higher electricity demand in California from climate change and electrification policies could increase the amount of air pollution in disadvantaged communities due to increased natural gas peaker plant usage, if the state's current electricity system had to supply the higher demand, accordi…

As California works to build out a generation portfolio to meet the state's future electric-supply needs, state regulators have laid out a proposed resource portfolio through 2032 that is based on meeting the state's 38-million-metric-ton greenhouse gas target.

Southern California Edison's electric infrastructure caused more fire ignitions in 2020 than in prior years, but those ignitions resulted in fewer structures and acres burned, utility leaders told the California Public Utilities Commission at an Aug. 26 public workshop.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will auction off 32 parcels in Nevada totaling roughly 83,544 acres in a virtual competitive geothermal lease sale Oct. 5.

The California Department of Water Resources is procuring five 30-MW natural gas-fired generators by Oct. 31 to help compensate for a projected electricity shortage this summer.

Southern California Edison residential customer bills will increase by about 9 percent, or $12.41 per month, under the utility's approved revenue requirement for 2021, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved this week. Rates are going up in part to pay for thousands o…

The further into the future California energy officials look, the larger grows the state's projected energy supply shortage, expanding by thousands of megawatts and now sitting at more than 5,000 MW.

After two years of effort, lawsuits and public workshops, energy officials in California this week approved a "landmark" building energy-efficiency code revision that is perhaps the "most significant" in the California Energy Commission's history, CEC Chair David Hochschild said during an Au…

Vantage Data Centers has asked the California Energy Commission to grant a small-power-plant exemption for 44 large diesel generators at a proposed data center in Santa Clara.

San Diego Gas & Electric told state regulators it was not able to bring new energy storage projects on line by Aug. 1 as required by a 2019 decision.

California fire and energy officials this week hammered utility leaders in the state over their power shut-off and inspection programs as peak fire season nears and smoke spreads across the West.

The California Public Utilities Commission on Aug. 5 approved a process to select an independent safety monitor that will check in on Pacific Gas & Electric's highest-risk activities and document-management processes.

The California Public Utilities Commission is preparing the state's electric grid for an estimated 770-percent increase in behind-the-meter energy storage capacity by 2030.

Energy experts in California are proposing voluntary building energy code options that local cities and builders could follow in order to further decarbonize structures in the state.