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4 min read SB 254

NEWS CODEX: The SB 254 Report/Warning; Ava Community Energy Solar + Battery Incentive Program

  • As Some Oil Deliveries to US Stop Flowing, California Braces for an Energy Crisis: "'Jet-fuel prices are bonkers,' said Tom O’Connor, an ICF energy consultant who advises California’s Energy Commission after 30 years with ExxonMobil." KQED
  • A State Agency's Blunt Warning on Wildfire Spending: "As the California Public Utilities Commission said in its own SB 254 response in January, the current system 'treats utilities as if they are solely responsible for damages from catastrophic wildfires and can fully mitigate the risks of those damages through reasonable diligence.' They can’t, and their ratepayers can’t afford to keep paying to try." THE CURRENT
  • California Regulator Rejects Community Solar Pricing Model, Triggering Industry Backlash: "The NVBT proposal would have tied compensation for exported solar electricity to the hourly value of energy delivered to the grid. However, the CPUC opted instead for the ACC methodology, which estimates the utility’s avoided cost of procuring equivalent power from other sources." PV TECH
  • California School District Completes 3.5 MW Solar and Energy Modernization Project: "The Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District has announced the completion of a district-wide energy transformation, marking a significant milestone for distributed generation in California’s Inland Empire. In partnership with OpTerra Energy Services, the $33 million initiative combined on-site solar PV with deep energy efficiency retrofits to hedge against rising utility rates and provide a living laboratory for its 8,600 students." PV MAGAZINE
  • Can California Thrive on Renewable Electricity? "According to the California Energy Commission, in 2023, Californians generated 215,000 GWh per year and imported another 66,000 GWh. That represented only 14 percent of the 1.9 million GWh of primary energy (7 EJ = 1.9 million GWh) inputs to the state. On the other end, the net energy services consumed by Californians in 2023, if expressed in terms of electricity, were equal to 693,000 GWh (the energy equivalent of 2.5 EJs). So what if California went fully electric and was able to double the current 36 percent efficiency, and could convert 72 percent of its primary energy input into net energy services?" CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER
  • Community-Scale Solar Offers $6.5 Billion in Savings, Bypassing California Gridlocks: "For CCAs in California, community solar offers an alternative to waiting for a massive grid overhaul that may take a decade. By investing in localized, community-scale solar and storage now to save billions, cut emissions, and bypass the interconnection queue." PV MAGAZINE
  • Distributed Batteries Get Legislative, Utility Lift in California: "Ava Community Energy launched an $11.25 million incentive program last week for residential customers installing solar and battery storage in their homes. The Oakland, California-based community choice aggregator’s SmartHome Battery program allows customers to share up to 80% of their home batteries, Ava said Thursday. Ava said it will provide rebates of $500/kWh for income-qualified customers and $90/kWh for customers who don’t meet income qualifications on the portion of the battery they choose to share." UTILITY DIVE
  • Google to Advance CDR Science with New Wetland Restoration Project in California: "...Google announced that it is launching a new project in California that will serve to restore wetlands and advance the science on carbon dioxide removal...the project is located in California’s Bay Area, right next to Google’s Mountain View campus." CARBON HERALD
  • Largest US Renewable Project Begins Generating Electricity: "The largest renewable energy project ever built in the United States has begun generating electricity, putting a two-decade push to deliver wind power generated in New Mexico to consumers in California on the cusp of completion. SunZia Wind has begun testing its 916 turbines as it nears the start of commercial operations later this quarter, according to a person familiar with the project. The impact is already evident: California broke its record for wind generation eight times in the last four weeks, according to Grid Status, a website that tracks power flows." E&E NEWS
  • States Are Lifting Bans on Nuclear Power: "Five states — Wisconsin, Kentucky, Montana, West Virginia, and, most recently, Illinois — have fully lifted their moratoria since 2016. Others are loosening the reins, with Connecticut easing restrictions on small modular reactors and Rhode Island allowing utilities to buy electricity from neighboring states’ nuclear plants. Five more — California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Vermont — are now weighing legislation to overturn their bans. Oregon, meanwhile, is considering a bill that would require a feasibility study to look into nuclear power. (In Hawaii, the results of such a study concluded in December that the state should maintain its moratorium on atomic energy.)" CANARY MEDIA
  • WECC Says Glen Canyon Could Reach Dead Pool Before Summer's End, Warns of Widespread Heat Across the West: "Western entities plan to add 177 GW of new generation resources by 2035 and retire 22 GW. Among the planned additions, 70 GW is in the Desert Southwest, 49 GW is in California, and about 15 GW each are planned for the Basin, Northwest and Rocky Mountain subregions. Across the West, 90 percent of the planned new resources are inverter-based wind, solar or battery storage." CALIFORNIA ENERGY MARKETS
  • Why Producing More Oil in California Helps the Environment: "It may take several decades before Californians no longer depend on petroleum fuel, but if we source it here instead of importing, it will generate hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars. Moreover, the biggest oil-related source of methane and volatile organic compounds polluting the atmosphere, by far, is leakage from natural seeps continually opened up via seismic activity. The only way to reduce, if not eliminate, this leakage of methane and VOCs is not by capping or recapping wells and eliminating production, but instead to safely increase drilling in order to deplete the underground reservoirs." CALIFORNIA GLOBE

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