WEEKEND NEWS CODEX: California Offshore Drilling; 6 GW of Non-Fossil Fuel Capacity; Diablo Canyon Milestone
Banned in California – the Electric Car: "Building an EV requires metal forging, battery manufacturing, painting, and chip fabrication — all processes that drove Tesla to build in Nevada and Texas." BANNED IN CALIFORNIA
BOEM Eyes California Offshore Drilling: "BOEM highlighted that a Notice of Intent will be published in the Federal Register today and pointed out that this will open a 30 day public scoping period, 'during which BOEM invites input from tribal, state, and local governments, stakeholders, and the public.'" RIGZONE
California Orders Utilities to Add 6 GW of Non-Fossil Fuel Capacity by 2032: "The order mandates that 2 GW be brought online by 2030, then the same in 2031 and 2032. Each LSE’s procurement obligation has been determined by its share of the managed peak on the electric system as of this year, with load forecasts taken into account, the CPUC said." UTILITY DIVE
California Wants Millions of Heat Pumps – High Power Bills Might Get in the Way: "Quentin Gee, a manager at the California Energy Commission, said the advantage of heat pumps comes down to thermodynamics. Unlike a gas furnace, which burns fuel to create heat, a heat pump compresses and expands a refrigerant, like a refrigerator in reverse. That moves heat from outside into a home — allowing it to deliver several units of heat for every unit of electricity it uses. Even in PG&E territory, where electricity rates may be some of the highest in the U.S., Gee said that efficiency can allow heat pumps to compete with — and in some cases beat — gas on operating costs, depending on local rates and home characteristics. In lower-cost municipal utility regions such as Sacramento’s SMUD, he said heat pumps can be a clear financial win." CAL MATTERS
Can Energy and Water Interests Find a Common Agenda? "Examples of the water/energy nexus abound. It would only take 3,500 gigawatt-hours to power seawater desalination plants with the capacity to produce one million acre feet of fresh water. That’s barely one percent of the state’s total annual electricity consumption. These innovations, combined with practical policy revisions and project choices, could enable California’s water consumers to negotiate a grand bargain and common agenda, one that could unite disparate interests from the Central Valley and Imperial Valley to the great coastal cities." CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER
Case Study – the Lights are On at PG&E to Build Smarter, Stronger, Sustainable Grid: "...PG&E, supported by IFS Copperleaf, began an integrated grid planning initiative in 2024. IGP provided a strategic decision-making layer that enables PG&E to answer critical questions such as 'What work should we do? When should we do it? And how can we execute it most efficiently?'" RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD
CEC Report Warns California's Reliance on Imported Energy Creates Supply Risks: "The California Energy Commission in December 2025 released an updated California Energy Security Plan, evaluating risks across the state’s electricity, natural gas, and transportation fuel systems. The report, presented by staff at the CEC’s February 11 meeting, outlines vulnerabilities in California’s energy supply and establishes planning frameworks for preventing and responding to disruptions. The analysis highlights the state’s reliance on energy imports as a central risk factor. California imports approximately 30% of its electricity, about 90% of its natural gas, and roughly 75% of its petroleum supply, according to the report. Much of that energy reaches the state through interstate pipelines, high-voltage transmission lines, and marine shipping routes." CALIFORNIA ENERGY JOURNAL
Diablo Canyon Clears Last California Permit Hurdle to Keep Running: "Central Coast Water authorities approved waste discharge permits for Diablo Canyon nuclear plant Thursday, making it nearly certain it will remain running through 2030, and potentially through 2045. The Pacific Gas & Electric-owned plant was originally supposed to shut down in 2025, but lawmakers extended that deadline by five years in 2022, fearing power shortages if a plant that provides about 9 percent the state’s electricity were to shut off." LA TIMES
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant Takes Big Step Toward Extending Life Until 2030: "Now that PG&E secured a coastal development permit from the California Coastal Commission and a wastewater permit and Clean Water Act certification from the water quality board — there’s only one step left to keep the power plant running until 2030. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission must decide whether to issue a 20-year operating license to PG&E for the power plant. PG&E representative Tom Jones said he expects the commission to make a decision about the license during the second quarter of the year." SACRAMENTO BEE
High Costs and Few Benefits From California's Proposed Sustainable Aviation Fuel Tax Credit: "Decarbonizing aviation will be challenging. Current batteries are too heavy and hydrogen takes up too much space, which leaves liquid fuels as the dominant energy source for the next few decades. However, promoting SAF only makes sense if it creates a clear path to future cost reductions and carefully manages the unintended consequences." ENERGY AT HAAS
Largest Solar Farm in US Coming to Central Valley in California: "Project owners bill this as a huge boon to California, helping it reach its aggressive clean energy requirements. Golden State Clean Energy, a partner in the project, estimated that once it is completed, California could meet one sixth of its energy needs in 2035 from solar panels in the Central Valley." CLEAN TECHNICA
New Bills Target a Range of Energy Issues, with a Focus on Affordability: "SB 1161 would require the California Air Resources Board to prepare an economic impact assessment that assesses whether and to what extent a proposal to adopt, amend, or repeal a regulation will affect low- and middle-income California households and disadvantaged communities." CALIFORNIA ENERGY JOURNAL
Not a Moment Too Soon, California Moves to Embrace Nuclear Energy: "A bipartisan group of lawmakers—led by Democratic Assemblymembers Lisa Calderon, John Harabedian, and Alex Lee, along with Republican Senator Brian Jones—introduced legislation to exempt nuclear reactors approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission since 2005 from California’s decades-old moratorium on new nuclear builds. This exemption would include reactors using the AP1000 design, like those powering Vogtle Units 3 and 4 in Georgia." ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Proposed Changes to Grid Technology Could Spur More Solar in California: "CPUC filed a resolution for ICA improvements on Feb. 11 that lays out requirements for the investor-owned utilities enrolled in the program. It would require these utilities to report ICA data more frequently and actually follow ICA mandates." SOLAR POWER WORLD
Trump Administration Reopens Door to Offshore Oil Leasing in California: "Opposition from Sacramento is fierce and litigation is a near certainty. Still, the signal to markets is that federal energy policy is tilting toward supply. Whether California’s coastline actually sees new rigs is another story entirely." OILPRICE.COM
US Military Airlifts Small Reactor as Trump Pushes to Quickly Deploy Nuclear Power: "The reactor transported to Utah will be able to generate up to 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 5,000 homes, said Isaiah Taylor, CEO of Valar Atomics, the California startup that produced the reactor. The company hopes to start selling power on a test basis next year and become fully commercial in 2028." NPR
What California's Planned Power Outages are Costing Schools – Darkness, Disruption, and Debt: "After the power shutoffs, the Val Verde Unified School District redirected $500,000 from the school facilities budget to buy battery storage units that could help Orange Vista High keep the lights on during future outages. But Garrick Owen, the district’s assistant superintendent, said the money would be better spent fixing the grid itself. 'If I had a magic wand, would I spend all the money to harden our schools against power outages, or would I spend it to harden the actual infrastructure of the power lines to not have the power outages?' he said." CAL MATTERS
What Will California Gas Prices Do in 2026? "When it comes to how much gasoline is going to cost in California this year, there are two not-so-encouraging conclusions we can reach. First, while the price increases may not be as extreme as some have predicted, they will come on top of what are already the highest prices in the continental United States. These high costs for gasoline harm businesses trying to stay competitive, and they wreak havoc on working families that have long commutes." CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER
Why Farmers in California Are Backing a Giant Solar Farm: "Grace Wu, an environmental scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says 'this is a fantastic place for solar' because the fallowed farmland isn't high-value habitat for wildlife." NPR