California solar generation glut grows

SOLAR: Data show California curtailed more than 3 million MW of solar production over the last year and paid neighboring states to take additional excess generation, raising concerns about the state’s grid decarbonization path. (Los Angeles Times)

EMISSIONS: The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power tentatively agrees to pay low-income neighborhood’s residents $59.9 million to settle allegations the utility covered up a gas plant’s methane leaks for years. (Los Angeles Times)

OIL & GAS: Colorado regulators vote to consider tightening rules on methane, volatile organic compound and other ozone precursor emissions from oil and gas facilities. (Colorado Newsline)

CARBON CAPTURE: Environmental justice advocates file a lawsuit seeking to block a proposed carbon sequestration project in a southern California oil and gas field, saying it would undermine state climate goals at the benefit of the petroleum industry. (Daily Journal)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• California lawmakers propose streamlining state permitting for clean energy development and battery energy storage systems. (Voice of San Diego)
• The U.S. Navy releases an environmental review clearing the way for a proposed biofuel power plant and a solar-plus-storage installation on one of its bases in Hawaii. (Stars and Stripes)

GRID: A governance initiative votes to create an independent regional organization to oversee the California grid operator’s energy imbalance and extended day-ahead markets. (RTO Insider, subscription, The Equation)

LITHIUM: The federal Bureau of Land Management approves a battery material firm’s proposed lithium exploration in depleted oil and gas wells in southeastern Utah. (news release)

BUILDINGS: Western Colorado counties aim to implement a net-zero carbon or all-electric building code for new construction by 2030. (Vail Daily)

PUBLIC LANDS: A Western public lands scholar says President-elect Trump’s pick for interior secretary is a ​“credible nominee,” not a ​“right-wing radical” who would dismantle the agency and allow unfettered drilling and mining. (Associated Press)

CLIMATE: Oregon researchers find human activity has emitted more than 3.6 trillion tons of greenhouse gases since 1850, a similar amount to asteroid collisions and volcanic eruptions responsible for extinction events. (KOIN)

COMMENTARY: An energy journalist says Colorado’s clean energy transition has enough momentum to deflect incoming Trump administration efforts to hamper it. (Big Pivots)