Tag Archive for: california

The CEC issued a $31M grant to build a 60MWh long-duration energy storage system to provide backup power to the Viejas Tribe.

California funds 60 MWh tribal long-duration storage project

More than 4 GW of battery storage has been installed in the California Independent System Operator footprint, and the state projects that it would need another 48 GW of battery storage and 4 GW of long-duration storage by 2045. The project is the first to be awarded under the state’s $140 million long-duration energy storage program.

The 60 MWh system is “one of the first of its kind in the country,” according to the CEC, and will be developed by Indian Energy, a Native American-owned microgrid developer. In addition to providing the Viejas tribe with renewable backup power during outages, it will allow the tribe to reduce electricity use from the grid when the state needs more resources.

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Source: Utility Dive

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The study found about 1/3 of Golden State households that installed rooftop solar in 2021 were solidly working- and middle-class families.

California’s middle-income residents outpace wealthy in rooftop solar installations in 2021

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Middle-income and working-class Californians represented by far the largest block of the million-plus households in the state that installed rooftop solar in 2021, according to a new Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study.

The study shows how essential California’s subsidies for rooftop solar are in helping deploy the clean, renewable power source across the state. Solar not only cuts rates for consumers suffering from astronomical bills caused by California’s monopoly utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric, but it also helps to fight the climate crisis.

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Source: ewg

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KB Home, SunPower and UCI joined forces to reimagine what a new home community could look like if built to reduce carbon emissions

200 all-electric homes in California will be solar-powered and have battery backup

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SunPower, the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Schneider Electric and Southern California Edison (SCE) announced their partnership with KB Home as the strategy, research, technology and energy providers for the homebuilder’s newly launched Energy-Smart Connected Communities in Menifee, California. More than 200 all-electric homes will be solar-powered, equipped with individual energy storage systems and connected to a microgrid powered by a large, shared community battery. These power-outage resistant communities are designed to offer a blueprint for sustainable and resilient new home development of the future.

KB Home, SunPower and UCI joined forces to reimagine what a new home community could look like if built to reduce carbon emissions, cut energy costs and provide new ways of producing reliable and resilient energy. With a $6.65 million Department of Energy (DOE) grant, microgrid design and engineering support from Schneider Electric, and strong collaboration with SCE to ensure a smooth transition between grid and off-grid electricity, these innovative homes are now available to the public.

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Source: Solar Power World

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Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar & Storage Association business group, will moderate a talk on abuse of monopoly positions by utilities at the Empower 2022 virtual summit.

It’s time to combat utility opposition to solar

There are plenty of examples of big utilities using their monopoly status and wealth – the latter derived from profits guaranteed by state governments around the US – to try to block customer access to self-generation technology.

For starters, in 2020 PG&E [Pacific Gas and Electric Company], SDG&E [San Diego Gas & Electric], and Southern California Edison between them pushed through an average $900 per year tax on consumers of solar and on energy storage systems. In making this proposal, the investor-owned utilities (IOUs) explicitly contemplated the need to tax self-consumption, including non-exporting battery systems, simply because the consumer would purchase less of the IOUs’ product.

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Source: PV Magazine

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Santa Barbara, CA will establish its own virtual power plant through residential solar microgrids using Electriq Power's PowerPod 2 energy storage system.

City of Santa Barbara to establish residential solar microgrids

The City of Santa Barbara, California, will establish its own virtual power plant through residential solar microgrids using the PowerPod 2 energy storage system from Electriq Power.

Santa Barbara County homeowners, regardless of means, will have access to Electriq’s smart home energy storage system, which is recharged by an included solar power system. The system will help achieve the Santa Barbara Home Power Program’s key goal of offsetting 100% of each home’s electricity consumption, providing immediate savings over annual utility costs.

“At Santa Barbara Clean Energy, we are looking to improve local resilience by building local energy generation and storage. The Santa Barbara Home Power Program allows local residents to do just that, while also gaining peace of mind against potential grid outages and rising prices,” said Alelia Parenteau, Acting Sustainability & Resilience Director for the City of Santa Barbara, Sustainability & Resilience.

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Source: Solar Power World

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How your state ranks on fostering community-led clean energy

Canary Media’s chart of the week translates crucial data about the clean energy transition into a visual format.

Communities around the U.S. are taking the lead to build clean energy projects designed to benefit their own residents, as we’ve been reporting this week in our series Power by the People: Clean Energy from the Grassroots. But some kinds of community-led clean-energy efforts can only succeed if the right policies are in place, and policies vary widely from state to state. So which states are most effectively supporting communities in their quest for clean energy? California and Massachusetts top the list, according to a scorecard from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, while Kentucky and Louisiana are at the bottom.

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Source: Canary Media

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Solar activists protested at the California State Capitol as they await a decision to slash the rooftop incentive program to get solar panels

Solar activists protest at the California State Capitol ahead of looming decision on slashing solar incentives

Hundreds of people protested on the steps of the Capitol today as they await a decision to slash the rooftop incentive program to get solar panels.

The proposal from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) was released back in December, but pushback from those as high up as Gov. Gavin Newsom is likely delaying a final decision.

Their message painted on the street in front of the Capitol was hard to miss: “Gove, keep solar Growing.”

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Source: abc10

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California's community solar program is designed to benefit customers, developers, workers and the overall power system at the same time.

California embraces a new approach to community solar

Community solar is a way to allow people who don’t have access to a roof that is suitable for solar panels to take part in the world of renewable energy. That includes renters, co-op and condo owners, and homeowners whose roof faces the wrong way or is shaded by trees.

Let’s be clear. As a general rule, utility companies take a dim view of rooftop solar, community solar, or any other idea that involves someone other than themselves generating electricity on their own. That’s why government policies are needed to diminish the power imbalance between utility companies and consumers.

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Source: Clean Technica

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Over the weekend, Newsom signed Senate Bill 1340 into law, which extends the tax exclusion for installing a new active solar energy system.

California extends sunset on property tax exclusion for active solar energy systems

A new California law extends the sunset on an existing property tax exclusion for newly constructed active solar energy systems by two years, a measure that Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged has a “direct impact” on property tax revenues for local governments.

Over the weekend, Newsom signed Senate Bill 1340 into law, which extends the tax exclusion for installing a new active solar energy system. Under current law, installing a solar energy system does not result in an “increase or decrease in the assessment of the existing property, unlike other physical additions,” according to a bill analysis.

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Source: The Center Square

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Blythe Solar Power Project will add 387 MW of battery storage to grid that will power nearly approximately 145,500 homes

Biden-Harris administration announces full operation of Blythe Solar Power Project

The Department of the Interior today announced that the Blythe Solar Power Project – a four-unit, 485-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic facility and 387 MW battery energy storage system in Riverside County, California – is now fully operational. The project, which will produce enough energy to power nearly approximately 145,500 homes, represents another major step forward in the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to lower costs for families and create a clean energy, carbon-free future.

“Bringing another solar project to full operation on our public lands will accelerate our nation’s transition to a clean energy economy by unlocking renewable resources, creating jobs, lowering costs, and boosting local economies,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “The Interior Department will continue to advance the sustainable development of clean energy in order to help meet the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035.”

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Source: BLM

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