California Looks for Ways to Alleviate Coming Energy Squeeze As the summer months approach, state energy officials are scrambling to find ways to reduce stress on the state’s power grid, including reductions in air conditioner use and briefly powering down refrigerators. Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times | January 6, 2021 | Analysis
(TNS) Sometime next summer, there s a decent chance a heat wave will bake the American West, and California s power grid will again be stretched to its limits.
As the sun sets, solar panels will start generating less electricity even as temperatures remain high. Power plants that burn natural gas will fire up as quickly as possible, in a race to keep air conditioners blowing and avert the need for rolling blackouts.
One state still craves coal frontiersman.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from frontiersman.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A $3 billion pumped-water energy storage project has been proposed along Isabella Lake that would help even out power delivery from California solar and wind farms at a volume and longevity dwarfing the large battery installations envisioned for eastern Kern.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is reviewing a Walnut engineering company s plan to create a new reservoir above the lake then use pumps and underground pipes to turn it into a rechargeable dam and hydroelectric generator putting out a whopping 2,000 megawatts of power for up to 12 hours at a time.
Optimistically, the project could open within six years but remains in such an early stage that its environmental impacts haven t been studied and its eventual owners or operators haven t been identified, said the head of the company behind the proposal, Power Tech Engineers Inc., whose principals have experience with similar projects elsewhere.
Focus Greentech Media – December 22
The U.S. Congress this Monday passed a massive spending bill that includes $35 billion in energy research and development programs, a two-year extension of the Investment Tax Credit for solar power, a one-year extension of the Production Tax Credit for wind power projects, and an extension through 2025 for offshore wind tax credits a significant last-minute boost for clean energy industries. These clean energy provisions are included in a $1.4 trillion federal spending and tax extension package negotiated by congressional leaders over the weekend alongside a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. The final version of the legislation was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on Monday evening. As of this publication, President Donald Trump was threatening to veto the legislation.