Sign in Subscribe
4 min read ReMAT

NEWS CODEX: Geothermal Ring of Fire; Community Solar Decision; PG&E's Electrification Impact Study

  • California's Hot-Rock Potential: "California is perched on the 'Ring of Fire,' a chain of volcanic, earthquake-prone areas wrapped around the Pacific ocean. The grinding of tectonic plates beneath California has left a string of hotspots from Pinnacles National Park through the Berkeley Hills and up to Mt. Shasta. Other accessible heat pockets lie beneath thin, spreading plates under Nevada, Utah and New Mexico. The Salton Sea region has yet more potential." THE CURRENT
  • California Democrats Threaten to Block Newsom Priorities Over Imperiled Climate Deal: "California Senate Democrats want to put the brakes on a new program by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration that steers free pollution permits to oil refineries and other major polluters — and they’re using the state budget to force the issue. In the spending proposal they released last month, the senators moved to block the program until the state funds a three-party climate deal the governor struck with the Legislature last year, an agreement they say Newsom is now breaking. They call their counterplan 'Deal is a Deal,' signaling a standoff that could stretch through the summer." CAL MATTERS
  • California Doubles Down on "Unworkable" Community Solar Program: "The CPUC voted to advance a community solar program that solar industry members are calling 'unworkable.' The Solar Energy Industries Association says 'virtually ensures' that no new community solar projects will be developed in the state under current structure." PV MAGAZINE
    • CPUC Passes Through "Failed" Community Solar Program, Industry Advocates Say: "Yesterday’s CPUC vote implemented the community solar program as-written, without support from solar advocates. CPUC finalized that the state’s community solar program will use CPUC’s existing Renewable Market Adjusting Tariff pricing structure, that would 'ensure non-participating customers do not pay on their electricity bills for more than the avoided wholesale cost of the electricity generated.'" SOLAR POWER WORLD
  • California Plug-In Solar Bill Advances After Another Unanimous Vote: "Senate Bill 868 is on the move after an 18-0 vote in the Assembly committee on utilities and energy. The bill would create rules allowing Californians to use so-called 'balcony solar' devices with up to 1,200 watts output that plug directly into a standard outlet." PV MAGAZINE
  • California Selects Scale to Build Microgrid for Santa Barbara City College Emergency Hub: "The campus microgrid being developed by New Jersey-based Scale will integrate solar panels, battery storage and EV charging infrastructure. Previously known as Scale Microgrid Solutions, the company has built numerous on-site power projects for tribes, communities and companies throughout California." Microgrid Knowledge
  • Data Center Growth Projections Creep up in California: "During a June 9 workshop, California Energy Commission staff said data center peak demand is projected to increase by 5,800 MW by 2040 under a planning scenario and up to 8,300 MW under a local reliability scenario. These increases would bump up CAISO’s peak demand by about 9% and 11%, respectively, by 2040." RTO INSIDER
  • Energy Reality Emerges as a Clear Winner in California Primary: "In a striking break from the green orthodoxy that has dominated California politics for years, former Attorney General Xavier Becerra openly declared in May that the state still needs Chevron and the reliable energy it produces. 'They’re not the bad guy,' Becerra said. 'You need Chevron. I need Chevron. My people of the state of California need Chevron.' That pragmatic nod to energy reality helped propel Becerra to victory in the state’s jungle gubernatorial primary, while billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer finished a distant third behind Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton. Steyer’s also-ran finish came despite having poured more than $215 million of his own money into the race while pushing the Rockefeller-backed 'Make Polluters Pay' and 'Keep It in the Ground' agenda." FORBES
  • Five Billion Barrels of Crude Oil: "One would think the experts who define and enforce California’s energy policies would recognize the futility of destroying California’s oil industry when demand for oil is going to persist for at least another 20 years. Why not extract it right here? Instead we export the jobs and the environmental impact to nations with minimal standards." CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER
  • How to Use Time-of-Use Pricing to Manage EV Charging: "The solution is to have different sets of TOU periods with staggered starting and ending times." ECONOMICS OUTSIDE the CUBE
  • Inside the Findings of PG&E's Electrification Impact Study: "Electrification growth may provide downward pressure on distribution rates by as much as 25% (~3.5 cents/kWh) by 2040." E3
  • Sonoma Clean Power Aims for 1,000 No-Cost Smart Thermostats Amid VPP Push: "The thermostat deployment is part of a broader effort to expand a multi-resource virtual power plant that includes thousands of electric vehicle chargers, battery storage systems, heat pump water heaters, and smart electrical panels, SCP said in November. The California Energy Commission provided a $4.99 million grant for the project and SCP will kick in $1 million of its own funds." UTILITY DIVE
  • When the Lights Went Out in Spain – and Why California Should Pay Attention: "What happens when a power system loses its ability to control voltage? Unfortunately, we now have a recent and well-documented example, and the parallels to California’s current direction are uncomfortably close." GREEN NUKE
  • Why is Grid Inertia Still Important? "In contrast to gigantic 2,256 megawatt nuclear power plants such as Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo, California which provide very large amounts of synchronous grid inertia, so-called inverter-based resources such as solar powered generators, wind power generators, and batteries supply negligible amounts of synchronous grid inertia. Within the past decade, political decision makers in states such as California have been advocating for increasingly larger penetrations of IBRs without understanding the adverse impact those energy policy choices are having on electrical grid reliability." GREEN NUKE

Published by:

MC

You might also like...