California

Batteries

Nation's largest urban battery to take center stage near San Francisco

Developer Arevon has begun building a 1-gigawatt-hour storage project in Daly City, near the Cow Palace arena, where it will serve up clean energy at night.

By Julian Spector . 3 April 2026
Virtual power plants

Will California fund or kill its thriving virtual power plant program?

Gov. Newsom’s administration has proposed ending a program that’s brought a gigawatt of grid relief online. Lawmakers want to know what will replace it.

By Jeff St. John . 31 March 2026
Electrification

Many homes already have the power to electrify, study finds

A California power provider shows homes can ditch fossil-fueled appliances without pricey electrical service upgrades after all.

By Alison F. Takemura . 30 March 2026
Solar

‘We’re harvesting the sun’: A huge solar project grows in California

A sweeping plan to build 21 gigawatts of solar plus batteries on 136,000 acres could be a lifeline for Central Valley farmers facing devastating water shortages.

By Jeff St. John . 24 March 2026
Solar

The fight over California’s community solar plan is heating up

Regulators are long overdue on their mandate to create a community solar-storage program. And critics say the plan that is in the works is “fatally flawed.”

By Jeff St. John . 17 March 2026
Heat pumps

Did fake comments sink SoCal clean heat rules? Advocates want answers.

Last year, Southern California regulators rejected rules that would have phased down gas heaters after an industry-tied campaign generated 20,000+ critical comments.

By Alison F. Takemura . 16 March 2026
Solar

A chapter of California’s rooftop solar battle closes

A court upheld the state’s latest net-metering policy, which drastically cut payments for solar power sent to the grid and is predicted to discourage rooftop installations.

By Kathryn Krawczyk . 13 March 2026
Utilities

As Californians electrify, can this tech combo prevent grid overload?

Utility PG&E is piloting two devices that strategically throttle power use so that new EVs and heat pumps don’t mean costly home and grid upgrades.

By Jeff St. John . 10 March 2026
Heat pumps

California’s heat pump push faces a big hurdle: high electric bills

The state has one of the boldest heat pump strategies in the U.S. But it also has some of the highest power prices, making electrification a tough sell to many.

By Ben Christopher, Alejandro Lazo . 3 March 2026
Climatetech finance

Heron Power raises $140M to modernize electrical transformers

Transformers are an old technology that’s in short supply. Tesla alum Drew Baglino thinks his startup can help meet rising demand with new solid-state hardware.

By Jeff St. John . 18 February 2026