Recently in Utilities
Commentary:
If a recent cease and desist letter that Southern California Edison (SCE) sent to rooftop solar activists was intended to make them go away, it seems to be having the opposite effect. Which could be a metaphor for utilities and rooftop solar itself, when you get right down to it.
Solar:
The upscale Sacramento suburb of Roseville will buy electrical power from a solar facility more than 260 miles south of the city, in a Kern County town more readily known for oil wells than solar fields.
Utilities:
A satirical video intended to poke fun at alleged utility obstruction of rooftop solar in California has attracted the ire of Southern California Edison.
Photovoltaic (PV):
Manzanar was the site of a shameful chapter in California's history, where thousands of Japanese Americans were imprisoned on account of their ethnicity. Now a utility wants to cover up that history with solar panels.
Commentary:
Homeowners who have a little bit of extra cash when they install solar panels are often encouraged to add battery storage to their home system. But a Southern California utility just delivered some upsetting news to owners of those storage systems.
Commentary:
A group of environmental and economic democracy activists charges that utilities are targeting Latino politicians to restrict access to rooftop solar despite the fact that most California Latinos support more solar. And the groups are using satire as a weapon.
Utilities:
L.A.'s Feed-in Tariff program, in which rooftop solar owners can make money selling unused energy to the LADWP, launched today.
Solar:
With the cancellation of one of the biggest solar projects proposed for the California desert, the utility-scale solar boom of 2009 continues to falter. And analysts deep in the energy industry are taking notice.
Solar:
In the first three months of 2013 almost a fifth of the solar installed in the state was put in without subsidies. As prices continue to fall and increasing costs of fossil fuels make solar ever more attractive, has California reached a solar tipping point?
Utilities:
Though regulators are insisting that Pacific Gas & Electric pay a record $2.25 billion in penalties for its role in a disastrous September 2010 gas line explosion in San Bruno, a ratepayer activist group says that doesn't go nearly far enough.
Utilities:
The head of the safety division of California's ratepayer protection agency has blasted Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) over the utility's reaction to a proposed $2.25 billon penalty stemming from a 2010 gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people, saying "It's time to throw the book at PG&E."
Utilities:
A bill introduced into the California Legislature would require that all California utilities get 51 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2030.
Nuclear :
Senator Barbara Boxer has asked the Justice Department to look into whether plant operator Southern California Edison deliberately misled regulators as the utility replaced aging steam generators at the plant's two remaining units.
Utilities:
Representatives say the Southern California utility should be able to meet demand for power even without the San Onofre nuclear power plant, as long as Fortune throws a few breaks its way -- and with the help of its customers.
Utilities:
A leading energy analyst has forecast the effect of dropping rooftop solar costs on Northern California's largest utility, and that forecast is bleak for the company and its shareholders.
Photovoltaic (PV):
As of this week, California has at least 150,428 rooftops generating electricity, and probably a lot more than that.
Utilities:
Northern California's largest utility may have to pay a total of $2.25 billion in penalties over a deadly September 2010 pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno.
Utilities:
The Board of Supervisors of the Bay Area's semirural Sonoma County has voted 4-1 to launch a publicly owned electrical utility, starting in unincorporated areas but eventually encompassing the entire county. If successful, the new utility would eventually take 220,000 home and business customers away from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E.)
Utilities:
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council finalized a much-lauded agreement to wean the city's Department of Water and Power (DWP) off coal-fired electricity, and went on to oppose reopening of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. On that same day, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging the city's pension fund managers to sell off their interests in fossil fuel companies.
Nuclear :
Senator Barbara Boxer has slammed a preliminary ruling by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission backing a Southern California Edison (SCE) proposal to restart the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station along the San Diego Coast. The Senator has called for a full investigation into the structural flaws that led to both remaining units of the ailing plant being shut down last year.
News and analysis about renewable energy in California. Blog host Chris Clarke is an environmental writer of two decades standing. He currently lives in Joshua Tree and can be contacted at: rewire@kcet.org.
- Wind Power
- PV and Solar Thermal
- Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI)
- Watts and Watt-Hours, Kilo and Mega
- 'Enough To Power X Thousand Homes'
- The Grid
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- Conservation and 'Negawatts'
- Grid Storage
- PACE Loans, Feed In Tariffs and Net Metering
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- Capacity Factor
- Renewable Portfolio Standards
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