Analysis: AI comments helped kill California gas-appliance phaseout

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ELECTRIFICATION

• An analysis finds more than 20,000 AI-generated comments may have helped defeat a proposal to phase out and levy a surcharge on gas-powered appliances in southern California last year. (Los Angeles Times)

GRID

• New Mexico’s senate passes the Microgrid Oversight Act aimed at extending state regulators’ authority over on-site power grids at data centers and other large energy users. (Source NM)

• California’s grid operator reports that its Western Energy Imbalance Market generated $1.62 billion in economic benefits to participants last year. (news release)

UTILITIES

• Oregon utility Portland General Electric proposes acquiring most of PacifiCorp’s assets in Washington state — including wind farms, a gas plant, transmission lines, and 140,000 customers — for $1.9 billion, a deal that requires regulators’ approval. (Oregonian, OPB)

• Pacific Gas & Electric CEO Patti Pope says data center-driven accelerated large load growth has helped the utility cut rates 11% since 2024, but ​“regressive” wildfire policies threaten those reductions. (Utility Dive)

• Utah Municipal Power Agency proposes a 48 MW gas-fired linear generator project in the central part of the state. (news release)

DATA CENTERS

• Controlled Thermal Resources shifts its focus from extracting lithium from geothermal brines at the Salton Sea in southern California to generating power to run a fleet of proposed data centers near its facilities. (KPBS)

OIL & GAS

• An Iñupiaq village pushes back against the Trump administration withdrawing from a Biden-era deal authorizing the village to regulate development to protect caribou on about 1 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. (Northern Journal)

• An analysis finds nearly 4,500 idle and potentially leaky oil and gas wells in California lie within 3,200 feet of a school, healthcare facility, playground, or childcare or eldercare center. (news release)

GEOTHERMAL

• Ormat Technologies agrees to provide NV Energy with 150 MW of new geothermal capacity from its Nevada facilities to power Google data centers. (Renewables Now)

TRANSPORTATION

• The Trump administration slashes the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program funding by $500 million, costing Nevada’s EV charging program about $12.6 million. (Nevada Current)

CRITICAL MATERIALS

• Proposed lithium extraction projects at the Salton Sea in southern California spark debate over the environmental costs and economic benefits of mining ​“green” materials. (Undark)

NUCLEAR

• The U.S. Defense Department airlifts a 5 MW nuclear micro-reactor from California to the San Rafael Energy Lab in Utah for testing and evaluation. (Deseret News)

• The Idaho National Laboratory partners with tech firm NVIDIA on an effort to use AI to accelerate advanced nuclear reactor deployment and reduce costs. (news release)

STORAGE

• California Community Power signs on to purchase power from the 500 MW Willow Rock compressed air energy storage facility in Kern County. (Solar Power World)

• University of California Santa Barbara researchers develop a liquid battery that captures sunlight and releases it as heat, describing it as a ​“rechargeable solar battery.” (KTLA, news release)

• Tesla agrees to pay Nevada $200,000 for operating battery recycling equipment at its Reno-area Gigafactory without a permit. (Nevada Independent)

HYDROPOWER

• Federal forecasters say climate change-exacerbated drought on the Colorado River could force Glen Canyon Dam to cease hydropower production by the end of this year. (Land Desk)

COMMENTARY

• A Nevada climate advocate calls for streamlined federal transmission permitting to expedite projects designed to carry clean energy. (Nevada Independent)