NEWS CODEX: Home Battery Revolution; Senate Bill 253; Kern Oil Doc
A Home Battery Revolution is Reshaping the Power Grid: "Last year, the amount of U.S. home battery capacity enlisted in virtual power plants grew by 153 percent. Programs in Puerto Rico and California that paid homeowners for their stored energy were a 'key driver of the growth,' according to policy and research analyst Madeline Turner of San Diego-based Ohm Analytics. California’s VPP program, according to Canary Media, 'has shown that its fleet of home batteries can be relied on much like a traditional power plant.' During a two-hour test last July, roughly 100,000 home batteries delivered about 539 megawatts of energy — more than the output of a large gas peaker plant." YALE ENVIRONMENT 360
A Missing Piece in Climate Models – Nature's Own Emissions: "Since launching last fall, Spark’s program on warming-induced emissions has connected more than 20 independent modeling groups from around the world to add those emissions to models, improve measurements, and explore ways to potentially reduce those emissions...One of the first projects coordinated through Spark’s warming-induced emissions campaign is the installation, by a team at the University of California, Los Angeles, of dozens of methane sensors at wetlands in central Africa, which are known to be major emitters of methane. " YALE ENVIRONMENT 360
California Delays Emission Reporting Deadline by 3 Months: "The California Air Resources Board said it will delay the compliance deadline for California’s SB 253 — the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act — and propose 'limited changes.'" UTILITY DIVE
Choosing the Right Infrastructure Projects Can Deliver Affordable Abundance: "...acknowledging an ongoing role for oil and gas is not a troglodytic rejection of modernity. It is recognition that fossil fuel still contributes over 80 percent of all energy consumption, both worldwide and in California. And even if consumption of crude oil were to be phased out completely by 2045, which is probably impossibly fast, we are still going to consume at least another 5 billion barrels of oil. In a great irony, drilling for oil in California would improve air quality, because the only way to stop natural seeps of methane in our seismically active state is to deplete the underlying reservoirs." CALIFORNIA GLOBE
Gas Prices are High for July 4 – California's Price-Gouging Fixes are Still on the Shelf: "The oil industry sees that as a return to an old fight. Zach Leary, a lobbyist with the Western States Petroleum Association, said California already debated price-gouging penalties during the 2023 special session, and that the Energy Commission decided the refinery-margin penalty could hurt supply, maintenance and consumers. [Senator Josh] Becker rejected that comparison, saying SB 493 targets a wartime emergency, not the regulation of refinery margins." CAL MATTERS
Gridmatic Study Shows Big Gap in Grid-Scale Battery Performance in California: "A Gridmatic analysis of California’s battery storage fleet finds a wide gap in asset performance, showing that bidding strategy and operational execution — not just location or market conditions — are key drivers of revenue differences across utility-scale batteries in the California Independent System Operator market." ESS NEWS
Kern Oil Documentary Explores California's Energy Future: "In 2013, more than 3,500 new wells were drilled in Kern County. By 2024, that number had fallen to just 21 new wells." AGNET WEST
PG&E Corporation Outlines its Role in California's Energy Transition as Investors Weigh Long-Term Risks: "While the company’s business model is built around regulated returns, its risk profile is more complex than that of many peers due to historical wildfire exposure and related legal and financial consequences. Market participants therefore weigh the stability associated with essential-service utilities against the residual risks tied to operating in areas where climate and vegetation conditions can increase the likelihood of extreme events. This dual perspective often shapes discussions of valuation and potential long-term scenarios." AD HOC NEWS
Reliability Risks are Evolving, Grid in "Precious Position," NERC Says: "Many of the emerging concerns facing the system are no longer driven by single contingencies or localized disturbances but by correlated and system-wide stresses, including energy limitations, operational challenges associated with maintaining reliability in lower-inertia systems, and declining availability of aging combustion generation..." CALIFORNIA ENERGY MARKETS
2026 Summer Reliability Assessment: "Inverter-based resource output variability remains a concern, such as from the evening ramp requirements from declining solar and Santa Ana winds, which can overspeed wind turbines, requiring them to curtail." NERC
Satellite Data Reveals High Emissions in San Joaquin Valley, Offering California Officials Clear Opportunity to Protect Communities, Climate: "New analysis of observations collected by MethaneSAT during 2024 and 2025 shows that the oil and gas operations in the San Joaquin Basin emit 18 tonnes of methane every hour, roughly 20% higher than estimated by the U.S. EPA’s inventory, and twice as high as the state figures from the California Air Resources Board." ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
The Ninth Circuit Upheld Southern California's Zero-NOx Water Heater Rule by Separating Emissions From Energy Use: "The rule is South Coast Air Quality Management District Rule 1146.2. It sets zero-NOx limits on commercial and industrial water heaters and small boilers rated between 75,000 and 2,000,000 British thermal units per hour, phasing in from January 1, 2026 through 2033. In practice the standard cannot be met by burning natural gas, so it functions as an electrification requirement for the covered equipment across the South Coast region, home to roughly 17 million people." ENERGY STORAGE WIRE
Trump Targets California Again in SpaceX Feud: "And, he’s at it again: the Trump administration has launcheda formal federal investigation into the California Coastal Commission, significantly escalating ongoing battles over offshore energy production, commercial space launches and environmental oversight along the Pacific coastline. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is executing a comprehensive performance evaluation of California’s coastal management program under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act." OIL PRICE