California

Solar

Can utilities replace power lines with solar and batteries in remote areas?

Expanding the grid to reach far-flung customers can be a costly fire hazard. So utilities like PG&E are testing out microgrids using solar, batteries, and generators.

By Jeff St. John . 8 September 2025
Virtual power plants

California quietly guts ambitious virtual power plant bill

Bills boosting solar, batteries, EVs, and smart thermostats to rein in California’s utility costs moved ahead — but the most innovative approaches were cut.

By Jeff St. John . 5 September 2025
Virtual power plants

California’s biggest virtual power plant may get a funding reprieve

Home batteries enrolled in the program can provide 700 MW of cost-effective grid support, new analysis finds — but only if state lawmakers preserve its funding.

By Jeff St. John . 21 August 2025
Hydrogen

This hydrogen microgrid is the first of its kind. Is it a good idea?

Energy Vault, Plug Power, and PG&E partnered on a project that replaces diesel generators with fuel cells to provide backup power for a small town in California.

By Julian Spector . 11 August 2025
Carbon-free buildings

San Francisco fast-tracks all-electric standard for major renovations

With the state set to pause code updates in October, the city is racing to close what some saw as a loophole in its existing all-electric building code.

By Alison F. Takemura . 8 August 2025
Utilities

California lawmakers have a radical idea for lowering electricity bills

Two bills would replace $15 billion in utility power-grid investments with cheaper public financing — a new approach to cutting sky-high electricity rates.

By Jeff St. John . 7 August 2025
Carbon-free buildings

California halts building code updates in a blow to electrification

Local jurisdictions may still be able to adopt ambitious codes that help homes ditch gas and promote heat pumps under exceptions in the new law, AB 130.

By Alison F. Takemura . 4 August 2025
Solar

LA has a plan to stop copper thieves: Solar-powered streetlights

As U.S. cities battle thieves who swipe copper wiring from streetlights, solar fixtures are becoming a financial no-brainer despite their higher price tag.

By Ysabelle Kempe . 4 August 2025
Electrification

Court upholds a landmark clean-heat rule in Southern California

The first-in-the-nation regulation, passed last year, will cut NOx emissions from more than 1 million boilers and water heaters in the smoggy Los Angeles area.

By Maria Gallucci . 23 July 2025
Electrification

In California, plans to move low-income neighborhoods off of gas advance

Neighborhood-scale decarbonization is an efficient way to electrify communities that might otherwise be left behind.

By Twilight Greenaway, Inside Climate News . 26 June 2025