GRID: During the peak of the California heat wave, battery systems discharged more than 3,000 MW into the grid, eclipsing the output of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant for a short period. (Energy Storage News)
ALSO:
• California officials ask residents to conserve electricity for the 10th consecutive day as a prolonged heat wave continues to strain the grid. (Reuters)
• Smoke from a northern California wildfire threatens to diminish solar output, prompting grid operators to extend calls for customers to conserve electricity into the early afternoon. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• A California mayor calls on Pacific Gas & Electric to replace aging equipment that failed during this week’s heat wave, leaving thousands of residents and three hospitals without power. (CBS Bay Area)
• A California utility brought the second phase of a 980 MWh battery system online just as a prolonged heat wave began. (Energy Storage News)
UTILITIES:
• Oregon utilities plan to shut off power to more than 40,000 customers to reduce the risk of equipment sparking wildfires during high winds forecast for the weekend. (Oregonian)
• Pacific Gas & Electric says an electrical fault was detected near the ignition point of a major northern California wildfire, but the blaze’s cause is still under investigation. (CBS13)
• California utilities urge regulators to push back the timeline on a proposal to end natural gas line extension subsidies next year. (Utility Dive)
OIL & GAS:
• Environmentalists sue the Bureau of Land Management over its 2020 approval of a 5,000-well oil and gas drilling project proposed for Wyoming, saying the agency improperly exempted the plan from land-use restrictions. (Casper Star-Tribune)
• The operator of a pipeline that spilled 25,000 gallons of oil off southern California’s coast last year agrees to pay $4.9 million for violating state environmental laws. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• A report finds Colorado’s newly increased financial assurance requirements for oil and gas drillers would cover less than 25% of plugging and reclaiming costs for the state’s 50,000 wells. (Colorado Newsline)
SOLAR: California clean energy advocates say a new community solar bill will lead to the deployment of hundreds of megawatts of solar-plus-storage. (Canary Media)
GEOTHERMAL: The federal Bureau of Land Management generates $2.9 million leasing 200,000 acres in Nevada for geothermal development. (Nevada Independent)
COAL: The University of Wyoming breaks ground on a facility for developing non-fuel uses of coal, including building products and agricultural soil additives. (Cowboy State Daily)
CARBON CAPTURE: A California company plans to construct the nation’s first large-scale direct air carbon capture project in Wyoming, saying it will be operational next year. (Reuters)
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