WEEKEND NEWS CODEX: Balcony Solar Legislation; Gas Tax Relief Bill; Casa Diablo IV
California's Declining Oil Refinancing Capacity as an Adaptation Bottleneck: "California has the most environmental regulations in the nation and this sector has borne the brunt of these costs." ENVIRONMENTAL & URBAN ECONOMICS
California's Economy Faces Threats with New Energy Policy Changes: "California refineries supply a broad range of transportation fuels, including aviation fuels that are critical to commercial and military operations, and they operate near major ports, military installations, and strategic hubs serving the Pacific region. Continued erosion of California’s refining capacity risks increased reliance on imported fuels that are slower to arrive, more exposed to global supply disruptions, and less reliable during emergencies or periods of heightened geopolitical risk." CHEVRON
California's Lawmakers Urge Attorney General to Investigate AI Astroturf Campaign Targeting Clean Air Rules: "The campaign targeting SCAQMD was organized by a public affairs consultant affiliated with California Strategies, a major lobbying firm whose clients include Sempra, the parent company of Southern California Gas Co., a leading opponent of the rules. In their letter, lawmakers warn that the potential use of artificial intelligence to submit false or misleading comments in constituents’ names could misrepresent public opinion and undermine the integrity of the public comment process." CLEAN TECHNICA
Did Fake Comments Sink SoCal Clean Heat Rules? Advocates Want Answers: "Last year, Southern California’s air regulators rejected landmark rules that would have encouraged the switch from polluting gas heaters to electric heat pumps in the smoggiest region in the country. Now, environmental and public health advocates are pressing state and local officials to investigate whether opposition in the run-up to the decision was largely faked. Members of the regulatory board voted 7–5 against the proposed rules in June, after receiving more than 20,000 public comments opposing them. It was 'an unusually high number,' said Rainbow Yeung, spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which regulates the air quality for more than 17 million residents across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties." CANARY MEDIA
California Brings Multiple Legal Challenges to Block Sable Pipeline Restart: "California launched a legal effort to stop Sable Offshore Corp.’s restart of the Las Flores Pipeline System serving the offshore Santa Ynez Unit. The response to the recent restart of the pipeline system could signal an escalating conflict between California and the Trump administration over federal emergency powers and state environmental authority." CALIFORNIA ENERGY JOURNAL
California Geothermal Leader CTR to Go Public in $4.7 Billion Merger to Power AI and EV Boom: "The business combination is designed to jumpstart Stage 1 construction at CTR’s flagship 'Hell’s Kitchen' project in the Imperial Valley." IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS
California Moves Ahead with Balcony Solar Bill: "The new legislation, Senate Bill 868 – also known as the Plug and Play Solar Act – would allow people in California to install small systems of up to 1,200 watts (AC) to a building’s electrical system and exempt them from requiring to interconnect the small systems to the electrical distribution system." PV TECH
California Senate Enviro Committee Democrats Kill Gas Tax Relief Bill: "Wednesday in the California Senate Environmental Quality Committee, Democrats killed Senate Bill 1035 by Senator Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach), which would have provided immediate relief for California drivers at the gas pump by lowering the price of a gallon of gas by $1.08. SB 1035, the Gas Tax Relief Act, would have offered a lifeline for drivers." CALIFORNIA GLOBE
How Blue California and Red Texas Became Green Powerhouses: "The California and Texas examples illustrate that whether the power sector is heavily regulated by climate-minded policymakers or unshackled in a permissive free market, clean energy now dominates new electricity deployments. That’s because solar and wind have become the cheapest sources of new electricity, battery costs to firm up their intermittency have likewise plummeted, and they don’t face the same supply chain limitations as natural gas turbines. Clean energy is the cheapest and fastest option to meet today’s rapidly growing demand." YALE CLIMATE CONNECTIONS
Why California and Texas Actually Agree on Powering Their Future with Batteries: "In California, energy policy is driven by goals to generate electricity from emissions-free sources, which led the state to become an early adopter of wind, solar and batteries. In Texas, the philosophy is more free-market, and renewables have flourished amid increasing demand for power and in part because the main power grid, ERCOT, makes plugging into the system faster than other parts of the country." SAN.COM
New Central Valley Solar Fees Would Burn California Ratepayers: "Solar paired with storage is the cheapest, fastest energy you can build today, thanks in part to California’s pioneering support of the technology that goes back two decades. But as the state embraces an abundance agenda to speed housing and clean energy buildouts, affordability needs to be guarded — including from excessive fees that drive up costs. Case in point: a Fresno County Fire Protection District plan to charge solar and storage developers huge fees for basic services." THE CURRENT
Ormat Signs Amended PPA for Casa Diablo IV Geothermal Power Plant in California: "Ormat Technologies (Ormat) has announced the signing and approval of amendments to existing power purchase agreements with two community choice aggregators for a portion of the output from the 35-MW Casa Diablo IV power plant, part of the Mammoth geothermal complex in California. This is part of Ormat’s strategy of pro-actively re-contracting existing agreements ahead of expiration to secure improved, demand-driven economics." THINK GEOENERGY
Ormat Technologies Begins Commercial Operations at 320 MWh California BESS: "Geothermal and battery storage firm Ormat Technologies’ 80MW/320MWh Shirk battery energy storage system in Visalia, California, US, has reached commercial operation." ENERGY STORAGE NEWS
Sacramento's Idea of a Transition: "California is dangerously exposed. It has no inbound oil pipelines." CALIFORNIA GLOBE
Seeing Shortage, California Seeks 6 GW of Clean Power Capacity: "Capacity under the CPUC order will be rated on its ‘effective load carrying capability,' measured in ‘net qualifying capacity.' Determined by both the scaling of ELCC/NQC, a standalone solar plant would be worth about 10% of its AC capacity. This low figure reflects how much daytime solar is already deployed on the grid. In contrast, a four or eight-hour battery is currently rated at 90–95% of its capacity output. Technically, standalone solar is not even eligible for this procurement." PV MAGAZINE
The Fight Over California's Community Solar Plan is Heating Up: "Kerry Fleisher, the CPUC’s director of distributed energy resources, defended the agency’s actions at last month’s hearing. She cited analysis proffered by utilities and by the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office, which is tasked with protecting utility customers, that found that the NVBT ran the risk of increasing costs for customers of the state’s three big utilities. 'These are costs that end up on all customer bills,' Fleisher said. 'So we need to be really mindful at this time, when affordability is such a challenge, to keep costs as low as possible.'" CANARY MEDIA
Utilities Have Made $200B+ in Profit Since 2021, New Report Says: "In 2025, Southern California Edison (26.11%), Georgia Power (22.57%), and AEP Texas (22.19%) took positions three, four and five as Florida Power & Light (27.44%) and MidAmerican Energy (27.16%) swapped spots at the top." UTILITY DIVE
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