State to spend half a billion dollars by 2024 helping vulnerable customers install on-site batteries, a big change for the market. California regulators have finalized plans to direct more than half a billion dollars in behind-the-meter battery incentives over the next four years to customers most at risk of being impacted by the state’s increasingly […]
California Seeks to Shift Major Battery Incentive Toward Fire, Blackout Resiliency
CPUC proposes to spend $613 million of total $1.2 billion SGIP budget through 2024 on battery-solar systems for high-fire-risk customers. Over its 13-year history, California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program has been the state’s primary driver for distributed solar, biomass power systems, fuel cells. and, over the past half-decade or so, behind-the-meter batteries. Now California regulators are […]
California Demands 3.3GW of New Resources as Grid Shortfall Looms
Procurement is a boon for solar-storage, demand response and other clean resources, and could forestall last-ditch option of keeping coastal gas plants open. California regulators have approved a 3.3-gigawatt “all-source” procurement that will pit new renewables, energy storage, demand response and other clean resources against natural gas-fired power plants in a race to meet what […]
California Proposes $100M in Energy Storage Incentives to Boost Wildfire Resiliency
An incentive carve-out for high-fire-risk areas could boost uptake among customers most likely to want solar-storage systems. California regulators want to direct $100 million in state energy storage incentives to a new class of disadvantaged customers: those living in parts of the state at the highest risk of deadly wildfires. The California Public Utilities Commission […]
California’s Community Choice Aggregators are Filling the Gaps in EV Charger Investment
CCAs haven’t invested as much as utilities in EV charging infrastructure. New state grants for Silicon Valley CCAs, munis will help close the gaps. California’s community-choice aggregators are increasingly taking utility customers and signing big renewable energy deals. But CCAs have not matched the billions of dollars of EV charging infrastructure investments being made by […]
PG&E’s Bankruptcy Judge Leaves Door Open to Shedding Renewables Contracts
The bankrupt California utility’s plan to renegotiate expensive legacy PPAs with developers wins a legal victory—but an appeal looks likely. Bankrupt California utility Pacific Gas & Electric won a victory Friday in the legal battle over whether it can shed billions of dollars’ worth of renewable energy contracts. But the ultimate fate of those contracts […]
How Solar and Batteries Could Help California Manage Fire-Prevention Grid Shutdowns
Sunrun wants solar-battery microgrids to be part of PG&E’s plan to mitigate what could be widespread blackouts geared to prevent fires. As Pacific Gas & Electric and California regulators grapple with how to manage the potential for widespread fire-prevention grid shutdowns this summer, clean energy advocates are demanding a role for solar, energy storage and […]