Not often is running the electric grid as simple as applying lessons from childhood. Right now it is ─ California is learning to share with its neighbors. A bill currently in front of the Legislature from California Assemblymember Chris Holden, AB 813, aims to build a better trading platform to share California’s extra solar power… Keep reading →
A new study cites gigawatt-hours’ worth of opportunity in customer energy flexibility, but little opportunity for old-school load shedding. California has gigawatt-hours of grid-balancing available in homes, offices, factories and farms that can “shape” and “shift” their energy usage, and a smaller but still valuable market for fast-responding “shimmy” resources. But it has very little… Keep reading →
Technology constantly advances, as do related industries. So, why does it seem like time stands still for the electricity industry? Compare telecommunications: Since the arrival of the telephone in the late 1870s, we’ve seen consistent upgrades to phones and transmission technology, including larger and larger coverage areas. But in the West, the way we make,… Keep reading →
As the days are getting longer and the weather is warming up, kids across the country are counting down the days until summer vacation. California state lawmakers, on the other hand, are rolling up their sleeves and building upon California’s strong foundation of clean energy leadership and momentum. With the electricity sector responsible for about… Keep reading →
Ongoing fallout from the catastrophic failure at the Southern California Gas Company’s Aliso Canyon storage facility is exposing a critical weakness in the state’s energy system. Overdependence on natural gas – and on one provider of that gas – means we don’t have the flexibility we need to cope if things go wrong. And now… Keep reading →
Starting October 1, CAISO will open its subhourly wholesale electricity market to PacifiCorp’s service areas, marking the first time that CAISO will dispatch electricity to regions outside its footprint. On September 30, 2014, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report on the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO) effort to open subhourly wholesale electricity markets to… Keep reading →
But a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector disagrees. An advanced seismic study conducted by utility PG&E to determine the safety of California’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant has found that the facility is “designed to withstand and perform [its] safety functions during and after a major seismic event.” The Central Coastal California Seismic Imaging Projectreport was submitted to the Nuclear… Keep reading →
Records that would have been considered ambitious no longer are On 1 June 2014, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) recorded a midday hourly peak of 4,767 MW of utility-generated solar electricity delivered into the California grid, a new record. That, however, does not include small-scale PVs on customer’s roofs – which are growing at… Keep reading →
