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4 min read Bureau of Land Management

MID-WEEK NEWS CODEX: ZEV Sales; 100-Hour Carbon-Oxygen Battery; Farm-Based Grid Flexibility

  • BLM Says Increased Oil Drilling in California will Have Minimal Environmental Impact: "The Bureau of Land Management released a draft environmental impact statement that concludes that new drilling in central and coastal California would not significantly harm public health or the environment. The environmental review is part of the Trump administration’s plans to open 1.2 million acres of federal mineral lands in California to oil and gas drilling." CALIFORNIA ENERGY JOURNAL
  • California Bills Would Cut Red Tape for Balcony Solar and Heat Pumps: "Heat pumps — air conditioners that also provide all-electric heat — are about two to five times as efficient as gas furnaces without those appliances’ planet-warming and health-harming pollution. Even in California, where gas is relatively inexpensive compared with electricity, a heat pump’s high efficiency can enable households to save on their energy bills, especially when tapping the sun for cheap, abundant power." CANARY MEDIA
  • California is Getting Grid Planning Right – Now We Actually Need to Build It: "In October 2025, Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric released draft studies examining how electrification will affect the electric grid – and how much electric demand flexibility can change the outcome. While this work will continue into 2026, the early results are striking. PG&E’s analysis finds that while enabling electrification will require tens of billions of dollars in distribution investments through 2040, that same electrification could also save customers up to 25% by putting downward pressure on electric rates by improving system utilization. The takeaway is clear: electrification does not have to result in runaway costs to the customer’s electric bill. When electric utilities actively plan for flexible demand – including managed EV charging, building electrification paired with demand response, and distributed energy resources – the grid can be used more efficiently, spreading the fixed costs of grid investments over more kilowatt-hours, and lowering costs for all ratepayers." ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
  • California Surpasses 2.5 Million ZEV Sales: "During the fourth quarter of 2025, Californians purchased 79,066 new ZEVs, representing 18.9% of new car sales. These sales figures came in the shadow of federal ZEV incentives that ended on September 30, 2025, which resulted in a nationwide decline in ZEV sales. National sales for the fourth quarter dropped to 5.8%, compared with 10.5% in the third quarter, according to Cox Automotive." CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION
  • How Much Progress Has California Made to Reduce Wildfire Risk Since the LA Fires? "Overall, it seems California is headed in the right direction on hazard mitigation, even if it could be headed there much faster. But even if the state were executing flawlessly—modeling fire risk, targeting treatments, coordinating burn windows—you can never eliminate hazard entirely. There will always be natural variability in weather and there will always be human error. That’s why it’s just as important that the state focuses on reducing exposure and vulnerability—something which it seems to have only just started taking seriously." ECOMODERNIST
  • Noon Energy Successfully Demos its 100-Hour Carbon-Oxygen Battery: "The news comes as Noon Energy, which was founded in 2018 and is based in Palo Alto, California, is fundraising for its next round and prepares to kickstart manufacturing. The company raised a $28 million Series A, led by Clean Energy Ventures, in late 2022." LATITUDE MEDIA
  • Proposed California Budget Includes New SAF Tax Credit: "According to the committee, the new tax credit would offset diesel excise tax liability to incentivize in-state production." BIOMASS MAGAZINE
  • Reviving Industrial Relics – the Redondo Beach AES Power Plant $100M Unlock Demand Strategy: "The 'Meter Rebellion' has begun. We are no longer waiting for centralized utilities to grant us permission to build. By leveraging these relics, we are creating a decentralized, resilient power layer that can support the AI-driven infrastructure of 2026 and beyond. BTM behind the meter is the only solution." CLINT'S SUBSTACK
  • SCE Shares Progress on Wildfire Recovery: "One year after the Eaton Fire started on Jan. 7, 2025, Southern California Edison is implementing a Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program to help the community recover and rebuild faster. As part of SCE’s commitment to long-term recovery following the wildfires, the company is also investing in infrastructure improvements that will help protect against future wildfires and support growth in Southern California. This includes plans to underground about 153 distribution circuit miles in and around Altadena and Malibu, California, and upgrade critical infrastructure to meet increasing customer demand." TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION WORLD
  • The Biggest US Solar-Storage Project Yet Takes Shape in California: "In December, the board of directors of the Westlands Water District, the agency that manages water delivery to more than 600,000 acres in California’s agricultural heartland, approved the Valley Clean Infrastructure Plan. VCIP calls for building up to 21 gigawatts of solar energy and an equivalent amount of battery storage across up to 136,000 acres, along with a series of high-voltage transmission lines to connect the electricity generated to the state’s grid." CANARY MEDIA
  • Trump Administration Sues to Overturn California Oil Setback, Citing Federal Preemption: "The Trump administration is suing California to pause and overturn the state’s 2022 oil drilling setback law, known as SB 1137. The administration is arguing that the Mineral Leasing Act and the Federal Land and Policy Management Act preempts the law. The administration notes that the law would 'knock out about one-third of all federally authorized oil and gas leases in California.' The lawsuit asks the court to declare SB 1137 unconstitutional and seeks an injunction against its enforcement." CALIFORNIA ENERGY JOURNAL
  • What it's Like to Build Grid-Scale Batteries in Texas Versus California: "California may disadvantage small and midsize developers 'due to challenges such as high capital requirements, long timelines and regulatory complexity,' while Texas instead tests their ability to manage merchant risk and revenue volatility." PV MAGAZINE
  • Yield Energy Launches Farm-Based Grid Flexibility Platform: "Agricultural energy flexibility provider Yield Energy has launched Yield Edge, a distributed energy resource management system, to improve grid-ready flexibility from farms. The platform is backed by US$3 million in funding from the California Energy Commission. It will initially focus on irrigation pumps, with plans to expand to other on-farm DERs including cold storage, EV and equipment chargers, solar arrays, batteries and on-site generation..." PV TECH

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