California’s government has issued a roadmap for the US state to achieve its long-term goal of 100% clean energy, while an immediate State of Emergency has been declared over concerns the electric system will struggle under heat waves this summer.
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved a 11.5GW procurement of electricity capacity from greenhouse gas-free sources, while also approving a resolution that campaigners said will have severe negative impacts on the state’s residential solar and solar-plus-storage growth.
California’s second-largest investor-owned utility Pacific Gas & Electric has warned customers of a challenging summer ahead, beginning with a record-breaking heatwave expected in some parts of the state this week.
A rapid and significant increase in battery storage capacity will be among factors contributing to an improved energy security position for California’s electricity networks this summer, but the grid is still vulnerable to stress during any extreme heatwaves.
Communities at risk of losing their electricity supply in the service area of California utility PG&E when disasters strike are being supported in developing their own microgrids through a new scheme announced by the utility this week.
The residents of Parlier, a small city in Fresno County, California, are being offered a 20% reduction on their energy bills and reduce the amount of power they buy from utility Pacific Gas & Electric by 90%, by getting solar-plus-storage and energy efficiency equipment installed.
A large-scale vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) demonstration project in California which has been providing grid services on a commercial basis will now also trial the use of the technology for microgrid applications.
