photo: SolarCity In The New York Times on Monday, I write about a $100 million tax equity fund created by PG&E Corporation to finance residential solar installations: P.G.&E. Corporation, the California utility holding company, has created a $100 million tax-equity fund to finance residential solar installations by SunRun, a San Francisco start-up that leases photovoltaic [...]
Archive for the ‘PG&E’ Category
PG&E ramps up solar financing with $100 million fund
Posted in energy, environment, green policy, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, tagged PG&E Corporation, rooftop solar, solar leasing, SunRun, tax equity funds on June 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Transmission constraints derail California solar project
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, eSolar, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged eSolar, NRG Energy, PG&E, solar energy, solar power plants, transmission on June 18, 2010 | 1 Comment »
photo: eSolar This post first appeared on Grist. Amid all the hope and hype about the nascent solar boom under way in California, there’s long been an elephant in the room – transmission. Billions and billions of dollars must be spent to build and upgrade transmission lines to connect dozens of proposed solar power plants [...]
California regulators reject utilities’ fuel cell projects
Posted in alternative energy, Bloom Energy, energy, environment, fuel cells, green policy, PG&E, Southern California Edison, tagged Bloom Energy, California Public Utilities Commission, fuel cells, PG&E, Southern California Edison on March 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In The New York Times on Wednesday, I write about California regulators’ preliminary decision to reject requests by two big utilities to install grid-connected fuel cells: While Google, Wal-Mart and other corporations have embraced fuel cells, California regulators have turned down requests from the state’s two biggest utilities to install the technology. [...]
The electric car future is unfolding in San Francisco
Posted in Better Place, electric cars, environment, green cars, green policy, PG&E, Southern California Edison, Tesla Motors, tagged Bay Area, Better Place, Chevrolet Volt, Coulomb Technologies, electric cars, Nissan Leaf, PG&E, San Francisco, Tesla Motors on February 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In a story I wrote with Clifford Krauss in Monday’s New York Times, I look at how the San Francisco Bay Area has is scrambling to prepare for the arrival of mass-market electric cars later this year: SAN FRANCISCO — If electric cars have any future in the United States, this may [...]
Utilities want to move slow on EV fast-charging
Posted in Better Place, electric cars, enviro startups, environment, green cars, green policy, PG&E, San Diego Gas & Electric, tagged Better Place, California, Coulomb Technologies, electric car infrastructure, electric cars, fast-charging, utilities on February 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The ability to fast-charge electric cars is seen as key to the adoption of battery-powered vehicles. But as I wrote in The New York Times on Thursday, utilities are worried such devices will overload the grid: Think, the Norwegian electric automaker, announced a deal this week with a California company, AeroVironment, a maker of electric [...]
Western utilities sign deals for 24/7 solar power
Posted in alternative energy, environment, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, SolarReserve, tagged NV Energy, PG&E, solar energy, solar power plants, SolarReserve on December 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: SolarReserve In The New York Times on Saturday, I write about utilities NV Energy and PG&E signing power purchase agreements to buy electricity from SolarReserve’s solar farms, which store the sun’s energy in molten salt to generate power at night: Solar farms that would serve two Western utilities are planning to use technology that [...]
Solar showdown in the Mojave
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, climate change, endangered species, enviro startups, environment, global warming, green policy, green startups, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar, tagged BrightSource Energy, desert tortoise, Goldman Sachs, Mojave Desert, Senator Dianne Feinstein, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar, wildlife on December 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In Tuesday’s New York Times, I write about California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s move to ban renewable energy production in two proposed national monuments in the Mojave Desert: AMBOY, Calif. — Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big [...]
Solar shakeup: Ausra sells power plant to First Solar
Posted in alternative energy, Ausra, environment, First Solar, OptiSolar, PG&E, renewable energy, Solar Millennium, solar power plants, tagged Ausra, First Solar, PG&E, solar energy, solar power plants on November 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Ausra Silicon Valley solar company Ausra has sold its sole remaining solar power plant project in the United States, all but completing its exit from solar farming. As I write Thursday in The New York Times: Ausra is continuing its exit from the business of building solar power plants, announcing on Wednesday that it [...]
New front opens in the West’s solar water wars
Posted in Abengoa Solar, alternative energy, energy, environment, green policy, NextEra Energy Resources, PG&E, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Abengoa Solar, California, NextEra Energy Resources, PG&E, solar energy, solar power plants, water on October 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody California utility PG&E on Monday announced two new Big Solar deals that will likely to ramp up the debate over solar thermal power plants’ thirst for water in the desert Southwest. As I write in The New York Times: The West’s water wars are likely to intensify with Pacific Gas and Electric’s [...]
California utility taps Arizona solar power
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, green policy, NextLight Renewable Power, PG&E, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Arizona, Arnold Schwarzenegger, NextLight Renewable Power, PG&E, renewable portfolio standard on October 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
That was quick: Just days after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that would have limited utilities’ ability to buy out-of-state renewable energy, utility PG&E on Thursday asked regulators to approve a deal with an Arizona solar farm to supply 290 megawatts of electricity. As I write in The New York Times on Friday: Pacific [...]
