Tesla grabbed lots of headlines last week with its energy storage product announcement, but New York could be doing more to prove energy storage technology and advance the market. “New York quietly (as least compared with Tesla) gave out the first $500,000 to kick-start five community microgrids in the state. It was the beginning of a $40 million flow of funds from its NY Prize, a program that will show the rest of country what microgrids can do for cities and towns. … You might say New York is putting in the garden, while Tesla this week offered some shiny new tools to help with the digging.” [Microgrid Knowledge]

Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn threw several US shale players under the bleed-shareholder-cash bus, which caused share prices to temporarily plummet. “’We think Pioneer generates a negative equity returns on capex,’ he said at the Sohn Investment Conference in New York on Monday. Pioneer shares fell 2.6 percent to $167.13 at 12:23 p.m. in New York. Einhorn spoke negatively about fracking companies and listed several in his slide presentation, including Concho Resources Inc., EOG Resources Inc., Whiting Petroleum Corp. and Continental Resources Inc.” [Bloomberg]

California forged ahead with new regulations designed to cut methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas infrastructure. “While the April 22 proposal still needs work – such as in the area of how often equipment needs to be inspected and what to do with a portion of the tanks that hold oil and gas wastewater – it’s a big and fundamental step in the right direction. It has the potential to deliver what the rest of the country needs – comprehensive equipment standards on new and existing sources for both oil and gas operations, and enhanced leak detection and repair requirements across the methane value chain.” [Energy Collective]

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