Tag Archive for: california

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved new projects by the state’s three investor-owned utilities, including nine battery energy storage system (BESS) facilities proposed by PG&E totalling 1.6GW/6.4GWh.

The CPUC has approved the projects which were proposed by PG&E in January in response to an order to procure 11.5GW of clean energy capacity, under the CPUC’s internal resource planning process.

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Source: Energy Storage News

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Santa Monica solar panel recycling pilot wraps up

On June 27, 2018, the Santa Monica was awarded $50,000 in funding from the Household Hazardous Waste Grant Program of the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). The City worked with the California Product Stewardship Council and other partners to survey stakeholders, conduct outreach, and coordinate panel pickups from homeowners and solar installers.  The CA Conservation Corps picked up and hauled panels and a Universal Waste management company called CalMicro, recycled the panels.

Results
Overall, 281 working and non-working panels were collected from 8 locations for an estimated total recycling weight of 7,920 lbs.  The cost for hauling and recycling solar panels was about $0.62 per pound or $17 per panel.  An additional 78 working panels were diverted for reuse.

Next Steps
Since the pilot is concluded, the City does not have staff or budget to dedicate to processing solar panels at this time, however, there are Universal Waste recyclers in Southern California that are certified to process solar panels and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Los Angeles is accepting unwanted working panels.  The California Product Stewardship Council created a website dedicated to the proper handling of unwanted solar panels: calpsc.org/solarpanelstewardship.

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Source: City of Santa Monica

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California utility San Diego Gas & Electricity (SDG&E) has released new projections for meeting California’s decarbonization goals. The study, The Path to Net Zero: A Decarbonization Roadmap for California, predicts that in order to reach the mandated carbon neutrality by 2045, the state will need to quadruple its electricity generating capacity from 85 GW to 365 GW, add 40 GW of energy storage, and integrate 20 GW of green hydrogen – while also adding 4 GW of fossil gas with carbon capture and sequestration technology.

The utility said that they believe a mix of resources will be needed to “maintain electricity system reliability in the SDG&E service area” as total consumption increases by an estimated 100%, and peak demand grows by 85%.

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Source: PV Magazine

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California, which aims to have a carbon-free power grid within 25 years, got a short glimpse of that possibility earlier this month.

The state’s main grid ran on more than 97% renewable energy at 3:39 p.m. on Sunday April 3, breaking a previous record of 96.4% that was set just a week earlier, the California Independent System Operator said Thursday in a statement.

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Source: Bloomberg

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