California proposes tighter grid-scale battery system oversight

BATTERIES: California regulators propose tighter oversight and safety rules for grid-scale battery energy storage systems in the wake of the Moss Landing facility fire. (San Diego Union-Tribune) 

OIL & GAS: 

• Hawaii officials propose importing liquefied natural gas to replace oil as an electricity generating fuel, citing its lower cost and carbon intensity. (Hawai’i Public Radio)
• Chevron looks to develop seven natural gas generators in the West, Southeast and Midwest to power co-located data centers. (Colorado Sun)

SOLAR: Developers begin construction on one of New Mexico’s first community solar installations in the southern part of the state. (Solar Power World)

POLITICS:

• Nevada advocates and officials worry the Trump administration’s sweeping federal funding pause could affect clean energy and electric vehicle rebates and incentives and drought-mitigation funding in the state. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• Right-wing Wyoming lawmakers propose slashing $100 million of funding from a state program aimed at supporting energy innovation, including carbon capture and sequestration. (WyoFile)

PUBLIC LANDS: A federal judge rejects Republican Arizona lawmakers’ bid to revoke the Biden administration’s designation of a national monument and ban on new uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. (Arizona Capitol Times)

NUCLEAR:

• Proposed Colorado legislation that would classify nuclear power as clean energy gains bipartisan support. (Loveland Reporter-Herald)
• Colorado residents and advocates push back on a proposal to site an interim spent nuclear reactor fuel repository in the state. (KUNC)
• A New Mexico college launches a program aimed at training students to remediate abandoned uranium mines. (New Mexico Political Report)
• An Oregon advocate launches a ballot initiative that would repeal a 1980 measure subjecting proposed nuclear reactors to a statewide vote. (Willamette Week)

CLIMATE: Oregon lawmakers consider legislation that would require the state employee pension fund to reduce its carbon footprint and invest in green energy and climate-related projects. (OPB)

EMISSIONS:

• A study says climate change-exacerbated wildfires caused federal lands in the Southwest to emit more carbon than they sequestered during five of the last 17 years. (Los Angeles Times)
• A Colorado county looks to reduce landfill methane emissions by diverting 75% of its waste to recycling and compost centers and hog farms. (Aspen Times)

GRID: A study finds California ratepayers would benefit more from an expanded day-ahead power market that includes the entire region than from one that includes only select utilities. (RTO Insider, subscription)

COMMENTARY:

• A California columnist urges policymakers to continue to invest in risky clean energy innovation even as the ​“expensive, bird-killing eyesore” known as Ivanpah solar plant nears its retirement. (Los Angeles Times)
• A California journalist says Trump may be able to roll back environmental regulations, but he can’t stop Biden-era climate and clean energy investments from bearing fruit in the long-term. (Quitting Carbon)