California coalition looks to electrify cities block-by-block

ELECTRIFICATION: A California partnership launches a home efficiency, electrification and rooftop solar pilot project on a single city block with hopes of one day scaling up the effort. (KQED)

SOLAR:

• A southern California amusement park breaks ground on a 12 MW solar-plus-storage system that is set to become the state’s largest single-site commercial clean energy project. (KTLA)
• Commercial operations begin at a 100 MW solar project in California’s Imperial Valley. (news release)
• Construction nears completion on a 200 MW solar installation in Utah, the nation’s first to opt for the Inflation Reduction Act’s production tax credit. (Solar Power World)
• A California company offers existing residential solar customers add-on battery energy storage installations to help them weather new state net-metering rules. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY: An analysis predicts the federal Inflation Reduction Act’s incentives will spur the creation of more than 10,000 new clean energy jobs in Western states. (Canary Media)

WIND: Idaho residents and elected officials continue their fight against the proposed Lava Ridge wind facility on federal land in the southern part of the state. (Idaho 6)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A southern Nevada transit agency adds four electric buses to its fleet. (Las Vegas Sun)

CRITICAL MINERALS: A proposed mine in Nevada would be the nation’s first to primarily extract vanadium, a critical metal used in electric vehicle and grid-scale batteries. (Sierra Nevada Ally)

UTILITIES: California advocates call for greater transparency and accountability from Pacific Gas & Electric as the utility seeks a rate hike. (CBS Bay Area)

OIL & GAS: U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, introduces a bill that would block the Biden administration’s proposed federal land oil and gas drilling rules. (Durango Herald)

PUBLIC LAND: Utah officials ask an appeals court to revoke the Biden administration’s designation of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in the southern part of the state. (KSL)

HYDROGEN: New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and energy industry officials travel to Australia to promote efforts to establish a hydrogen fuel industry even though the region missed out on federal funding for a proposed production hub. (Capital & Main)

COAL:

• Montana residents urge federal regulators to block new state laws that would loosen regulations on coal mines, saying they could lead to water contamination. (Billings Gazette)
• A Navajo Nation-owned mine in New Mexico offers free coal for cooking and heating to tribal members. (Navajo Times)

CLIMATE: NASA researchers find Alaskan tundra scorched by wildfire emits more methane than the surrounding landscape. (news release)

COMMENTARY: The head of a conservative conservation group says fossil fuel-rich Wyoming is poised to lead a low-carbon energy transition. (Utility Dive)