Advocates criticize Newsom virtual power plant vetoes

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GRID

• California advocates say Gov. Gavin Newsom’s vetoes of legislation aimed at expanding virtual power plants and rooftop solar, residential battery storage, and smart thermostats will ​“stall progress on key distributed energy and affordability strategies.” (Canary Media)

• A California Public Utilities Commission judge proposes ordering an additional 6 GW of generating capacity to take advantage of federal clean energy tax credits before they expire. (PV Magazine)

• Boulder, Colorado, and Xcel Energy begin undergrounding utility lines in a residential neighborhood as part of an effort to mitigate wildfire hazard. (Boulder Reporting Lab)

CLEAN ENERGY

• The Hopi Tribe in Arizona is forced to significantly downsize a plan to install rooftop solar and batteries at about 600 homes after the Trump administration rescinds $25 million in federal funds. (KPBS)

• California grid operators leverage growing battery storage capacity to shift solar generation to the evening and nighttime, helping solar to hit a new record-high output for the first half of the year. (Canary Media)

• Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek orders state agencies to fast-track proposed solar and wind project permitting to take advantage of federal clean energy tax credits before they expire next year. (OPB)

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs legislation allowing a property tax exemption for residential and commercial solar projects to expire at the end of next year. (Bloomberg Law)

• California advocates call on state regulators to hold utilities accountable for failing to meet grid interconnection deadlines for rooftop solar. (CalMatters)

• Clean energy industry experts say the Ivanpah solar facility’s impending closure is an indictment of outdated CSP technology, not the photovoltaics used in most utility-scale plants. (PV Magazine)

UTILITIES

• State regulators allow Idaho Power to slash net-metering compensation for rooftop solar by 31%, about half of the utility’s proposed cut. (PV Magazine)

COAL

• The Navajo Transitional Energy Company bids $186,000 — less than one cent per ton — for a 1,262-acre federal coal lease in southeastern Montana, emphasizing the fuel’s diminishing value even as the Trump administration looks to bolster the industry. (Associated Press)

• Utah advocates push back on the Trump administration’s plan to open to coal leasing 48,000 acres of federal land adjacent to national parks and monuments in the southern part of the state. (news release)

• New Mexico regulators plan to update the public on their effort to track historic groundwater contamination from the shuttered San Juan coal plant in the northwestern part of the state. (Source NM)

OIL & GAS

• California’s attorney general accuses Sable Offshore of repeatedly discharging waste into inland waters without a permit as it rushed to restart drilling off Santa Barbara’s coast. (Courthouse News)

• Investigators continue to seek the cause of an explosion and fire last week at Chevron’s El Segundo petroleum refinery in southern California. (Los Angeles Times)

DATA CENTERS

• Prometheus Hyperscale plans to power its proposed 1.5 GW AI data center near Casper, Wyoming, with carbon capture-equipped natural gas generation. (Data Center Dynamics)

GEOTHERMAL

• Mazama Energy moves forward with testing its Super Hot Rocks enhanced geothermal system at its Oregon facility. (OPB)

CLIMATE

• Washington state’s Supreme Court refuses to hear a natural gas firm’s challenge to the state’s Climate Commitment Act. (My Northwest)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Community solar set to struggle amid federal and state headwinds — Alison F. Takemura

• New England’s final coal plant shuts down years ahead of schedule — Sarah Shemkus