Trump raises the thermostat for geothermal energy

By John Siciliano | Washington Examiner Link to article The Trump administration is looking to carve out a place for geothermal energy in its energy abundance agenda, starting several initiatives to help the undervalued renewable resource expand beyond the volcanic Pacific region. Geothermal power plants are one of the few renewable energy resources, outside of […]

Toyota and FuelCell Energy Plan to Build a Giant Renewable Power and Hydrogen Plant

By Emma Foehringer Merchant | Greentech Media Link to article Toyota and FuelCell Energy are taking a gamble on the world’s first megawatt-scale carbonate fuel-cell power generation plant with a hydrogen fueling station at the Port of Long Beach, California. The Tri-Gen plant, built by FuelCell Energy and expected online in 2020, will produce 2.35 […]

Renewable-Power Sector Sees Senate Tax Bill as Major Threat

By Tim Puko | WSJ Link to article Advocates for renewable energy are warning the Senate tax bill could have a devastating impact on its businesses. The Senate’s latest tax-overhaul bill includes rules that aim to make it harder for U.S. businesses to keep money overseas and shielded from U.S. taxes. The problem for the […]

Wine Country fires: Could a better power grid save us?

California’s outdated power poles and lines need upgrading, say critics By LISA M. KRIEGER | The Mercury News Link to article California’s first power pole was erected in the 1880s, soon after Thomas Edison’s light bulb. Now we have 4.2 million of them, carrying a spider web of fickle and fire-triggering lines that hang in […]

U.S. Climate Change Policy: Made in California

A peculiar confluence of history, legal precedent and defiance has set the stage for a regulatory mutiny in California that would reverberate throughout the country. By HIROKO TABUCHI | The New York Times Link to article SACRAMENTO — The Trump administration may appear to control climate policy in Washington, but the nation’s most dynamic environmental […]

CALIFORNIA: Last-minute bills would set up regional grid

By Debra Kahn | E&E News Link to article California lawmakers are pursuing changes to the state’s electricity markets through a sweeping new bill unveiled Friday. The head of the state Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee made last-minute changes over the weekend to two bills that would set the stage for a West-wide electrical grid […]

SOLAR ECLIPSE: In Calif., it’s like planning for a cloudy day

By Debra Kahn | E&E News Link to article Today’s full solar eclipse will mesmerize the entire U.S., but for power nerds, eyes are trained on sun-thirsty California. Grid operators in California, the most solar-dependent state, have been thinking about the eclipse for the past year. They say they are fully prepared and not particularly […]

California Legislature extends state’s cap-and-trade program in rare bipartisan effort to address climate change

By Melanie Mason and Chris Megerian | LA Times Link to article California lawmakers voted Monday evening to extend the state’s premiere program on climate change, a victory for Gov. Jerry Brown that included unprecedented Republican support for fighting global warming. In a break with party leaders and activists in California and Washington, eight Republicans […]

Coal got knocked out in Calif. Now, gas is on the ropes

By Debra Kahn | E&E News Link to article A wave of regulatory reconsiderations of natural gas-fired power plants in California has renewables advocates cheering. The state’s grid operator is expected to release a study next month on whether the Puente Power Project, a gas-fired plant planned for the Southern California coast 60 miles west […]