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)