MICROGRIDS: As part of its drive to reduce wildfire ignitions from its infrastructure, Pacific Gas & Electric deploys its first microgrid in a high fire-hazard area. (PV Magazine)

ALSO:
• The University of California, Berkeley, plans to build a renewable-energy microgrid to fully power its campus. (Microgrid Knowledge)
• An exercise confirms that three military installations in Hawaii can shift to a microgrid powered by a refined biodiesel plant if the larger grid fails. (news release)

UTILITIES: The San Diego City Council gives final approval to a 20-year franchise agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric that will include $20 million to help advance the city’s climate equity goals. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

GRID:
• Southern California Edison completes a new transmission line that will carry 7,000 megawatts of solar-generated and battery power. (Solar Industry)
• The Bureau of Land Management opens the public comment period on a high-voltage transmission line that would carry primarily renewable energy from central New Mexico to markets in Arizona and California. (Deming Headlight)
• The developer of a high-voltage direct-current transmission line that will stretch from Wyoming to Nevada seeks customers for the line’s capacity. (Renewables Now)

CLEAN ENERGY: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will visit Nevada this week to promote federal-state cooperation on clean energy policy. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

HYDROPOWER:
• Scientists say Seattle City Light’s four hydropower dams on the Skagit River cut off starving Orcas’ food sources. (KING5)
• The State of Washington fines a hydropower dam operator for polluting the Puyallup River with rubber from artificial turf. (KING5)

HYDROGEN: The City of Los Angeles looks to boost hydrogen production by powering its municipal electricity utility with the fuel. (Canary Media)

OIL & GAS:
• Drilling jobs return — slowly — to the oil and gas fields of Weld County, Colorado, as oil prices rebound. (KUNC)
• Wyoming’s governor plans to spend federal COVID-19 relief funds on oil and gas projects and revive energy jobs. (Rocket Miner)

NUCLEAR: An advocacy group hopes to reinstate a recently overturned Montana law requiring public approval of nuclear projects. (Billings Gazette)

COAL: U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney claims Washington’s rejection of a coal export terminal violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution because it “undermines” Wyoming’s coal industry. (Oil City News)

POLLUTION: A bill passed recently by the Colorado Legislature requires industrial facilities to monitor air pollution at their property lines and report the results publicly. (Colorado Sun)

COMMENTARY:
• A California advocate urges lawmakers to use the state’s $76 billion surplus to fund a statewide Green New Deal. (Capitol Weekly)
• Montana conservationists say that the current federal oil and gas leasing system is ill-suited to the Western U.S. (Billings Gazette)
• A Honolulu editorial board urges city leaders to implement “sensible” wind-turbine setbacks without hampering onshore wind power development. (Star-Advertiser)
• A Utah advocate explains how highway expansions eventually increase congestion and carbon emissions. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Jonathan hails from southwestern Colorado and has been writing about the land, cultures, and communities of the Western United States for more than two decades. He compiles the Western Energy News digest. He is the author of three books, a contributing editor at High Country News, and the editor of the Land Desk, an e-newsletter that provides coverage and context on issues critical to the West.