Recently in Utilities
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.
Commentary:
A report by a leading utility trade association says that rooftop solar could spell doom for utilities, and recommends that power companies push for a clampdown on energy democracy.
Utilities:
The CEO of the largest power-plant company in the U.S. calls rooftop solar power a "mortal threat" to utilities, and says that's not a bad thing.
Utilities:
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has likely made some San Diego County residents very happy today with a decision not to allow San Diego Gas & Electric to buy power from the controversial proposed Pio Pico Energy Center and Quail Brush Power gas-fired power plants.
Utilities:
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced today that the city of Los Angeles is phasing out use of coal-fired electrical power in the next 12 years.
Utilities:
About 39 percent of L.A.'s power now comes from coal-fired plants.
Utilities:
California leads the nation in distributed solar power generation (DG), but if the state wants to keep its rooftop and community solar lead it's going to have to get rid of limits on "net-metered" solar power.
Utilities:
The California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to devote proceeds from closing a polluting desert coal-fired power plant to promote renewable projects to benefit the Hopi and Navajo nations.
Photovoltaic (PV):
Even though the L.A. Department of Water And Power's new solar incentive program has taken some heat, the new Feed-in Tariff already has more applicants for its first round than were planned for in the whole program.
Utilities:
A new initiative cleared for signature-gathering Monday by Secretary of State Debra Bowen, would replace SCE, PG&E, and SDG&E with the publicly owned "California Electrical Utility District."
Utilities:
Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Edward Markey have charged that SCE, the operator of the beleaguered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, was aware of serious problems with a critical part being installed.
Utilities:
The process of deciding whether and how to restart the disabled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station continues.
Government:
Arizona has a renewable standard that even its supporters characterize as "modest." And now they're talking about scaling it back.
Utilities:
The L.A. City Council decided Tuesday not to send DWP's 100-megawatt feed-in tariff program to a Council committee for review and possible veto.
Utilities:
Though the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power won wide acclaim for approving a plan to buy 100 megawatts of solar power from rooftops and vacant lots in Los Angeles last week, some observers have criticized the program for offering too little cash to too few Angelenos.
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
- Distributed Generation
- Conservation and 'Negawatts'
- Grid Storage
- PACE Loans, Feed In Tariffs and Net Metering
- Base Load and Peaking Power
- Capacity Factor
- Renewable Portfolio Standards
- Transportation and Renewable Energy
- Biomass
- Geothermal
