California utilities find storage can makes solar nearly 100% reliable
Written By Lisa Ellwood July 16, 2020
SOLAR: A recent study by California's three investor-owned utilities finds that solar backed by storage can achieve nearly 100% reliability, posing a challenge to gas-fired peaker plants. (Bloomberg)
ALSO: A new California regulation classifying solar panels as universal waste could create a regulatory model for recycling that other states can follow. (Waste Dive)
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BIOMASS: A California-based developer and operator of biomass gasification plants responds to a lawsuit filed against the company alleging patent infringement. (Sierra News Online)
RENEWABLE ENERGY: Renewable energy supporters want New Mexico regulators to approve a plan that would replace coal-fired San Juan Generating Station electric power with 100% renewables. (Farmington Daily Times)
HYDROPOWER: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers find that tidal power could support grid reliability if utilized as an energy resource for remote communities. (Tech Xplore)
OIL & GAS:
• A new study by UCLA and University of Southern California finds that pregnant women living near natural gas flaring sites may have an elevated risk of giving birth prematurely. (E&E News, subscription)
• An analyst says New Mexico's oil and gas industry could take at least three more years to recover from the coronavirus crisis and market volatility. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• California's largest oil and gas production company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (Palm Springs Desert Sun)
• Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon says the state's weakened energy sector is a major contributor to its loss of revenues, noting that Wyoming had 33 oil and gas rigs operating in 2019 but now only has one. (Oil City News)
• The Department of Energy says the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas export terminal in Oregon has "profound economic, energy security, and environmental implications, both at home and abroad." (news release)
• Two Colorado ballot measures backed by the oil and gas industry are on track to receive enough signatures to qualify. (Colorado Politics)
• Alaskans are set to vote on another ballot initiative this fall about the state's tax structure on oil production. (KDLL)
COAL: A new report finds planned coal plant closures in Colorado will save billions of gallons of water. (Colorado Sun)
WIND: Hope still remains for the first offshore wind turbines in the Pacific despite a California congressman clashing with a recent Trump appointee to the Navy. (E&E News Daily, subscription)
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HYDROGEN: Silicon Valley fuel cell company Bloom Energy announces it is entering the commercial hydrogen market. (Greentech Media)
EFFICIENCY: An Oregon school district partners with an energy efficiency and renewable energy company on a $3.6 million energy efficiency project. (news release)
About Lisa Ellwood
Lisa is a Lenape and Nanticoke Native American freelance journalist, editor and writer currently based in the U.K. She has more than two decades' experience working in corporate communications and print and digital media. She compiles the Western Energy News daily email digest. She has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Temple University; her specializations include data journalism and visualization. She is a member of the Native American Journalists Association, Investigative Reporters & Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, and the National Union of Journalists (U.K.).
More by Lisa
Critics say Colorado's new climate plan still too vague
CLIMATE: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis reveals a new plan to reduce greenhouse gas pollution with a goal of reaching 100% renewable energy by 2040, but critics say the roadmap is still not specific enough. (CBS Denver, Colorado Sun)
ALSO: A new California program aiming to support Native American tribes' clean energy efforts in the state awards $2 million to tribal climate change initiatives.
Lawsuit blames PacifiCorp for northern California wildfire
UTILITIES: Victims of last year's Slater fire in northern California and southern Oregon sue Pacificorp for negligence, saying the utility's failure to maintain its transmission lines is to blame for the blaze. (The Oregonian)
POLLUTION: A new study finds that up to 50% of all Western fine-particle pollution is now caused by wildfire smoke.
New Mexico utility could be coal-free by 2024
COAL: New Mexico's largest utility formally files with state regulators to hand over its interest in the Four Corners power plant, putting the company on track to be coal-free by 2024. (Farmington Daily Times)
ALSO: A bankrupt Powder River Basin coal company fails to find a buyer for its planned Washington state export terminal and is seeking to abandon its lease for the site.
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