Focus
GREENTECH MEDIA - Sep 10 Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 100 into law on Monday, completing the legislative effort to transition California to fossil-fuel-free electricity. The law, which calls for 60 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2045, makes California the largest jurisdiction to legally commit to clean energy. California already has laws on the books requiring a reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions. SB 100, if successful, will eliminate them from the electricity sector; long-term success requires cleaning up transportation and industrial processes, each of which now produce more emissions than the state's electrical generation. Governor Brown also announced an executive order directing California to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 and to be net greenhouse gas negative thereafter. The order will require the state to undertake additional decarbonization efforts, such as capturing and sequestering carbon in soil and building materials.
FAST COMPANY - Sep 11 Los Angeles is embarking on an ambitious plan to move toward zero-emissions transportation. In 10 years, according to the Zero Emissions 2028 Roadmap, a new plan in development by the City and County of L.A., local utilities, car companies, and several other partners, as many as 45 percent of private cars and trucks will be electric, and between 50 percent and 100 percent of shared cars will be electric. All new buses will be electric; the entire bus fleet will be between 80 percent and 100 percent electric. Semis at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will begin to shift to electric power, and between 25 percent and 50 percent of delivery trucks will be electric. The plan is in the early stages, and a second road map, released next year, will drill down into the specifics of each goal.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE - Sep 4 The mayors of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose are urging the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to reject a proposal they fear could substantially raise the fees that people pay when switching their electricity provider from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to a city-run program like CleanPowerSF. On Tuesday, the mayors sent a letter to the PUC to express “substantial concerns” with a proposal the commission is scheduled to consider on September 13 that could raise the fees for leaving PG&E by as much as 25 percent. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is gradually enrolling city customers in its CleanPowerSF program automatically. The program uses a cleaner mix of energy generated from renewable sources. Customers can opt out of the program, however, which would prevent them from having to pay the so-called exit fees and stay on as a PG&E customer.
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD - Sep 5 Consumers in the U.S. installed home batteries with 57.5 megawatt-hours of storage capacity last quarter, according to a report from the Energy Storage Association and Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, more than the 39.8 megawatt-hours added during all of 2017. It was also the first time residential storage exceeded big utility-scale projects, which totaled 51 megawatt-hours for the quarter. Residential installations were concentrated in California and Hawaii, which both have ambitious clean-power targets.
NORTH AMERICAN WINDPOWER - Sep 11 A new report estimates that operations and maintenance (O&M) expenses for wind power assets could cost the industry about $7.5 billion annually by 2021. IHS Markit estimates that the current North American wind O&M market is valued at approximately $5 billion to $6 billion annually, but it is expected to exceed $8.3 billion by 2027, representing an increase of nearly 40 percent. In 2021, the industry will reach a critical turning point, as operating expenditure for the wind industry in the United States and Canada will, for the first time, eclipse capital expenditure.
UTILITY DIVE - Sep 7 A review of California's electric vehicle (EV) integration strategy kicked off this week, with California Energy Commission (CEC) staff laying out several areas of focus, including economic potential, customer experience, and cybersecurity. In a webinar with stakeholders, staff introduced a matrix of proposed Vehicle-to-Grid Integration goals and the challenges faced. Comments on the proposed goals are due September 21. Governor Brown wants to see 5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2030, with an interim goal of 1.5 million by 2025. An electric vehicle charging infrastructure bill to give the CEC authority to issue statewide assessments of infrastructure needs is awaiting Brown's signature.
Projects
PV MAGAZINE - Sep 11 Kaiser Permanente has finalized power purchase agreements with a series of solar, wind, and battery projects in Southern California and Arizona. NextEra Energy will build and operate these projects, which total 180 megawatts of renewable energy and 110 megawatts of energy storage. Individual projects include a combined 131 megawatts of solar and 110 megawatts of batteries in Southern California’s Riverside County, as well as a 50-megawatt wind farm in Arizona. All of these are scheduled to come online in 2020 and 2021, although Kaiser Permanente will begin receiving associated renewable energy credits in 2019.
SOLAR INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - Sep 11 Sunrun is launching an expansion of its low- and moderate-income solar offering. In California, the company plans to develop a minimum of 100 megawatts of solar on affordable multifamily housing, where 80 percent of tenants fall below 60 percent of the area median income. To date, according to Sunrun, 39 megawatts of solar have been installed on affordable multifamily dwellings through the California Public Utilities Commission’s Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing program and will continue through its successor program, Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing.
