Palo Alto youth push electrification

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

ELECTRIFICATION

• California middle and high school students urge Palo Alto’s city council to promote induction stoves and heat pumps and educate residents on the dangers of gas-fueled appliances. (Canary Media)

STORAGE

• Battery energy storage systems provide 12.3 GW of power to California’s grid on March 29, or about 43% of total demand. (Fast Company)

TRANSITION

• A philanthropic organization launches the Resilient Energy Economies Initiative to help Southwestern communities adapt to the coal industry’s decline. (KUNR)

CRITICAL MATERIALS

• Observers say national politics, stagnant markets, and lack of adequate technology — not environmental lawsuits — have hampered proposed geothermal-brine lithium extraction projects near southern California’s Salton Sea. (Capital & Main)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Washington state awards $60 million to dozens of proposed solar, battery energy storage, grid resilience, district energy, biomass, and renewable hydrogen projects across the state. (news release)

• Altus Power brings online a rooftop solar installation at a 1.1 million square-foot industrial logistics center in San Bernardino, California. (news release)

GRID

• Several Colorado utilities and electrical cooperatives join the Southwest Power Pool’s regional day-ahead market. (Big Pivots)

PUBLIC LANDS

• A federal court rejects Republican Arizona lawmakers’ bid to revoke the Biden-designated Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni — Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument and associated uranium mining ban in the northern part of the state. (AZ Mirror)

COAL

• Residents and advocates call on state regulators to reject Colorado Springs Utilities’ proposal to continue operating its Ray Nixon coal plant beyond its scheduled 2029 retirement date. (Fox 21)

• A Wyoming ranch family proposes a private-state-federal land exchange that could open up some 250 million tons of coal reserves to future mining. (Cowboy State Daily)

DATA CENTERS

• Imperial County, California’s supervisors plan to vote this week on a proposed data center complex despite residents’ and advocates’ pushback over water and grid-strain concerns. (KPBS)

HYDROPOWER

• Navajo advocates push back on the Trump administration’s proposal to reverse a Biden-era rule giving tribal nations veto power over preliminary federal hydropower permits on tribal land. (Tribal Business News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Observers say Zenobe Energy’s acquisition of San Francisco electric vehicle charging facility operator Revolv could signal a strong future for e-trucks in California. (Los Angeles Times)

• A Colorado ski town plans to use state funds to install seven new fast EV charging stations by the end of next year. (Summit Daily)

COMMENTARY

• A Nevada columnist calls for more transparency regarding a proposed 170 MW data center in Boulder City, saying it could strain water supplies and the power grid. (Nevada Independent)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Canary Media is turning 5! — Eric Wesoff

• How a community solar breakthrough took shape in Illinois — Jeff St. John

• This spring has been a record season for renewables — Kathryn Krawczyk